


Class PZ 5 



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Copyright, 1921 

By MILTON BRADLEY COMPANY 
Springfield, Mass. 



All rights reserved 


JUH t6 B2t 



©aA6147G8 







EDITORIAL NOTE 

I am indebted as follows for copyrighted material appearing in 
this volume: 

The Century Company for Bow-wow, Curly-Cur and the Wooden 
Leg by Margaret Eytinge, The Obstinate Weathercock by-Horace 
Scudder, Little Dame Dot by Margery Deane, Turning into Cats 
by Francesi Lee, and A Small Story by Abby Morton Diaz, all from 
“Saint Nicholas.” The Macmillan Company for Pig and Pepper 
and Tweedledum and Tweedledee by Lewis Carroll from “Alice in 
Wonderland” and “Through the Looking Glass,” The Squirrel 
Family by Mrs. Molesworth from her “Christmas Tree Country,” 
and the material from the Brothers Grimm. Lothrop, Lee and 
Shephard for the Patchwork School by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman. 
D. Appleton and Company for How Mr. Rabbit Got a Good Din¬ 
ner and The Dyeing of Mr. Rabbit by Martha Young in “Behind 
the Dark Pines.” The Reilly and Lee Company for their versions 
of Little Black Sambo and Peter Rabbit from “Children’s Stories 
that Never Grow Old.” Mr. Thornton Burgess and Little, Brown 
and Company for Why Mr. Frog Has a Short Tail, from “Old 
Mother West Wind” and Little, Brown and Company for The 
Raccoon and the Bee-Tree by Charles Eastman in “Wigwam 
Evenings.” G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New York and London, for the 
courtesy of reprinting Tom Tit Tot by Jacobs from “English 
Fairy Tales.” The Discontented Little Pig is from “Educating 
by Story Telling” by Katherine Dunlap Gather, copyright August, 
1918, by the World Book Company, Yonkers-on-Hudson, New 
York, and is used by permission of the author and publishers. 
The New York Tribune and the author for Creamie Rice Pudding 
Tries to Be Charming. 

Youth’s Companion, controlling all rights, has given me permis¬ 
sion to reprint the following of my own stories: The Wonder 
Nut, Caroline’s Dough Cake, Little Roast Pig, Merry Heart’s 
Party, and The Runaway Prince. My story. Grandfather’s Prize 
Pig, is reprinted from my “Everyday Stories” by permission of the 
Pilgrim Press. 






Every child loves to laugh, and the good “funny’’ 
story is not only the child’s right but his need. 

There has been little humor available heretofore for 
children in the short story form, except the questionable 
buffoonery and adult wit of the old folk and fairy tales 
in their original versions. The collection of humorous 
stories which follows supplies, not only entertainment for 
boys and girls, but each of its pages carries a hidden 
lesson made permanent in the child’s heart through the 
fine, sure philosophy of laughter. 

I have drawn upon practically every source, old and 
modern, for the best in child humor. Each story has 
been selected and adapted for its effect upon a child’s 
happiness and upon his conduct. The stories are classi¬ 
fied under the important headings of those child interests 
which, properly fed, influence his future life. 

The book is offered, to all who believe in education by 
story-telling, as an assembling of the best comedies of 
childhood than which there is no surer way of presenting 
truth. 


Carolyn Sherwin Bailey. 






































MERRY HOME STORIES 

PAOH 

The Joke.1 

Tommy’s Lion.5 

The Tale of the Tiger. 10 

The Goose, the Pig, and the Scarecrow.14 

Caroline’s Dough Cake . 20 

Little Roast Pig.25 

The Discontented Pendulum— Jane Taylor .30 

The Matches — Hans Christian Andersen .34 

The Shirt Coo,ar— Hans Christian Andersen .... 39 

The Shepherdess and the Chimney-Sweeper— Hans Chris¬ 
tian Andersen .44 


MERRY ANIMAL STORIES 

The Story of Peter Rabbit — Beatrix Potter .51 

How Mister Rabbit Got a Good Dinner— Martha Young . 56 

The Dyeing of Mr. Rabbit— Martha Young .64 

Pig and Pepper — Lewis Carroll .69 

Grandfather’s Prize Pig .81 

The Discontented Pig — Katherine Dunlap Cather ... 87 

A Small Story— Ahby Morton Diaz .92 

The Mystery of the Cookies .96 

Bowwow-C urlYCUR and the Wooden Leg— Margaret Eytinge 102 

Turning into Cats— Frances Lee .108 

Why Grandfather Frog Has No Tail— Thornton Burgess . 113 
The Raccoon and the Bee-Tree— Charles Eastman . . .117 


MERRY HOLIDAY STORIES 


Jack-O-Lantebn Alive 


122 
















CONTENTS 


PAOB 

The Dinner that Ran Away.127 

The Wonder Nut.132 

Ned, the Toy-Breaker— From Slovenly Peter .136 

Santa Claus’ Sleepy Story.139 

Santa Claus at Christmas Cove.143 

The Christmas Stocking.148 

Johnny Molasses’ Adventure.152 

The Patchwork School— Mary E. Wilkins Freeman . • 157 

Four-Legged Saint Valentne .173 

The Sugar Egg.178 

What Happened on April First.183 

How Grandpa Bushy Filled the May Basket , . . .185 

The Birthday Stick.1^0 

MERRY FOLK TALES 

The Crow-Biddy —German . 195 

The Little Tar Man— Adapted from a Southern Folk Tale 197 
The Little Gold Stone— Adapted from a Southern Folk Tale 202 
The Wise Little Jackal— Adapted from an East Indian 

Folk Tale . 210 

How Jay Bird Got His Desserts —Adapted from a Southern 

Folk Tale . 215 

The Fox and the Crab— Chinese .221 

Son-of-a-Brave’s Balloon— Adapted from an Indian Legend 224 

Tom Tit Tot— Told hy Joseph Jacobs .228 

The Wolf and the Seven Little Goslings— Told hy Miss 

Mulock .237 

The Cat and the Mouse in Partnership— Grimm . . . 242 

The Vagabonds— Grimm .247 

The Town Musicians— Told hy Miss Mulock .251 

MERRY FAIRY TALES 

Merry-Heart’s Party ..257 

The Mud Puddle Elf.261 

The Magic School Box.265 

The Toy Goose— Hans Christian Andersen .269 

What Happened in the Pie Country.273 























CONTENTS 


The Princess Who Was Curious.279 

The Runaway Prince.283 

The Princess Who Saw Herself.287 

The Swineherd —Bans Christian Andersen .292 

The Bird that Made the Princess Laugh —Adapted from 

the Danish .300 

The Squirrel Family— Mrs . Molesworth .309 

The Great Sea Serpent —Adapted from Bans Christian An ¬ 
dersen .318 

A MERRY COMPANY 

The History of Dr. Wango Tango —From Slovenly Peter .• 325 
The Story of Little Black Sambo —Belen Bannerman . . 327 

Funny Jack —Adapted from an English Country Tale . . 333 

Little Dame Dot.340 

The Obstinate Weathercock —Borace Scudder .... 345 
Cream IE Rice Pudding Tries to be Charming —Louise S . 

Bashrouck .351 

Phoebe Ann, the Proud Girl —From Slovenly Peter . . 356 

Johnny Look-in-the-Air —From Slovenly Peter .... 358 

The Story of the Inky Boys —From Slovenly Peter . . . 360 

Tweedledum and Tweedledee —Lewis Carroll .362 














THE JOKE 

‘^XTOW what would each of you most like 
to find when we go to our new home?” 
Father asked, as he drove the last nail in the 
last packing box. Father had just come home 
from the army, and had found a place to work 
and live in another town, smaller, and strange, 
and a journey’s length away. 

‘‘Oh, a big market!” Mother said, “where I 
can buy apples and peas and pumpkins and 
corn and tomatoes and everything else good to 
eat that will make rosy cheeks and strong arms 
for the children.” 

That was Mother’s wish. 

“Oh, a boy who lives next door and owns 
a velocipede and a pair of roller skates and a 
pushmobile like mine, so we can have races to¬ 
gether!” 

That was Bob’s wish. 

“Oh, a toy shop very near so that I can buy 
1 





2 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

a set of dolls’ dishes and a dolls’ house and a 
new doll. I am going to be very lonely when 
I am away from all the little girls in this 
neighborhood.” 

That was Betty’s wish. 

Then the expressman came and loaded all 
the family’s furniture and dishes and pictures 
and trunks into his wagon. And Mother and 
Bob and Betty told Father good-bye, because 
he was going to join them at the new house 
just as soon as he could. They boarded the 
train, and it carried them a long way, and 
then they stopped at a very small, green town. 

Theirs was a tiny little home, set in a coun¬ 
try lane that was far away from the town. 
No one had lived in it for a long time, and the 
dusty windows looked like sleepy eyes, and 
the scraggly vines, trying to grow over the lit¬ 
tle front porch, made Bob think of a stray 
terrier that needed to have his hair cut. Grass 
and weeds grew up through the brick wall, and 
the gate hinge was broken. But the walls of 
the little home were of warm red brick, and 
there were swallows twittering under the 
eaves. The sun made a yellow carpet in the 
living room, and when the furniture came it 
fitted in just as if it had always lived there. 

‘‘Such a surprise, children!” Mother said 


MERRY HOME STORIES 


3 


as soon as they were settled enough to look 
around. There is an apple tree in the yard 
and a garden where I can plant peas and 
pumpkins and corn and tomatoes and every¬ 
thing else that we need. We will go to work 
digging tomorrow.” 

‘‘Such a surprise, Mother!” Boh said that 
afternoon. “The gate is open, you know, be¬ 
cause it is broken and in came such a nice boy 
just now. He lives a little way down the lane 
with his mother, for his father didn’t come 
home from the army. He hasn’t much to play 
with, but I am going to let him take my veloci¬ 
pede while I ride my pushmobile.” 

“Such a surprise. Bob!” Betty said soon 
after that. “There is a sunny corner of the 
garden wall that makes a real outdoor dolls’ 
house, large enough for my old dolls. Some 
of the dishes broke when we moved, and 
Mother says I may have them to play house 
with.” 

So the whole family was very busy and very 
happy. The new home had trimmed vines 
and shining windows. The swallows finished 
building their nests, and the garden was 
planted and began growing, and one day Fa¬ 
ther came. 

“How do you like it?” was the first thing 


4 


MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 


he asked after he had been hugged and kissed, 
and then hugged and kissed again. 

‘^We love it!’’ they said with one breath, and 
all together. 

Father pretended to frown and look very 
serious. ^^Oh, no, you are not in earnest; you 
have made a mistake,” he said. 

^^No, we are in earnest. We haven’t made 
a mistake,” the family said all at once. 

‘‘Oh, yes, you have,” Father repeated. 
“Our new house is a long way from a market. 
Bob’s friends are boys who have very few 
toys, and there isn’t a toy shop within miles 
for Betty.” 

None of the family said a word for a mo¬ 
ment. They looked at the little green sprouts 
in the garden and heard the boy from down 
the lane laughing because he was having such 
a good time with Bob’s velocipede. They saw 
the old dolls looking as good as new out in the 
playhouse in the garden wall. 

“Isn’t it a joke?” the family said then. 
Mother and Bob and Betty all laughing as 
hard as they could. “We forgot all about the 
things we thought we must have here!” 


TOMMY’S LION 


‘ ‘f IIHE people who live on the next place 
JL to ours have a tame lion,” Tommy said 
the first evening after the Barnes family had 
really finished settling enough to sit down to¬ 
gether after supper. saw it come in a team 
this afternoon. 

Everybody looked at Tommy in amazement. 
Mother was the first one to speak, for she al¬ 
ways wanted to make things easier for Tommy 
if she could. ‘ ‘ The people next door have such 
a large place that they could keep a lion if they 
wanted to. That is what you mean, isn’t it. 
Tommy?” she asked hopefully. 

‘‘No, I saw the lion come,” Tommy said. 

Father looked very sternly over his eye¬ 
glasses at Tommy. “This is what comes of 
your reading so many of those wild animal 
stories, Thomas, ’ ’ he said. “ We all know that 
you mean to be truthful, but your imagina¬ 
tion runs away with you. Don’t speak of the 
lion next door again.” 

“All right. Father, I won’t,” Tommy said 
obediently. 


6 


MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 


Tommy kept Ms word, but the next day at 
luncheon, Lucy, Tommy’s little sister, sur¬ 
prised the whole family by saying suddenly, 
‘^The lion next door is going to have a big 
piece of meat for his luncheon today.” 

“Why, Lucy, I never would have thought 
this of you, dear,” Mother said. “What ever 
makes you tell such a story as that?” 

“Why, I saw the butcher’s cart stop at the 
back gate, and the next door cook came out 
to get the meat,” Lucy explained. “Then 
she took most of it to the kitchen, but she gave 
a piece of beef to the chauffeur, and he car¬ 
ried it out to the bam to the lion. ” 

No one spoke for a moment, and then Father 
looked very sternly at Tommy. “This comes 
of your reading those wild animal stories to 
your sister, Thomas,” he said. “Don’t do it 
any more.” 

“All right. Father, I won’t,” Tommy said, 
and then everyone forgot about the lion for 
the rest of the day. When it came bedtime, 
though, and little Billy was tucked up in his 
crib, the family heard a terrible noise coming 
from the nursery. Mother ran upstairs, very 
much alarmed, for although little Billy was 
only three and a half years old, he never made 
any sound after the lights were put out at 



MERRY HOME STORIES 


7 


night unless he was ill. She found him per¬ 
fectly safe. 

‘‘Billy, why did you make that kind of roar¬ 
ing noise just now?” Mother asked. 

“That is what the lion next door does when 
he wants some attention,” little Billy said. 

“Dear me!” Mother thought, after she had 
given Billy a drink of water and closed the 
nursery door. “I don’t believe that I will say 
anything to Father about this, for he would 
think that Tommy and Lucy have been tell¬ 
ing Billy those wild animal stories. I must 
think of something to do about it myself. It 
can’t go on like this.” 

The children started going to the new school 
the next day, and there was so much to do 
after settling the playroom that they did not 
see very much of Mother. At supper, though, 
the family was together, and Mother had a 
^ funny twinkle in her eyes. She waited until 
Father had served every one and had helped 
himself to plenty of chicken stew, and the chil¬ 
dren had their biscuits nicely buttered. Then 
she surprised them all by saying, 

“The lion next door is quite harmless, for he 
is lame.” 

“Mother, you’re telling a story!” Tom said. 

“Oh, Mother!” Lucy exclaimed. 


8 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

And, ‘‘Oh, Mother!” little Billy said too. 

Father couldn’t, of course, look at Mother 
over his eye-glasses, or sternly, or tell her not 
to read about wild animals, but he got up 
from his place and went over to feel of her 
head. “I am afraid that the moving and set¬ 
tling were too much for you, my dear,” he 
said. 

But Mother’s eyes only twinkled more 
brightly as she said, “No indeed. Father,” and 
went out to the kitchen for more biscuits. 

After supper it was a beautiful evening, and 
even little Billy sat by the window to see the 
moon come up. Father had gone out right 
after he had finished his chicken, but he came 
back before the children’s bedtime. His face 
was all wrinkled with smiles, and the first 
thing he said after he came in was, “Mighty 
clever neighbors we have. The man bought a 
lion for ten dollars.” 

No one said anything. They thought they 
would let Father explain, which he did. 

“The Park Zoo in town felt the high cost 
of living,” he said, “and they had to have an 
auction to try and get rid of some of the ani¬ 
mals. It was easy enough to sell Angora 
goats, and monkeys, and popular small ani¬ 
mals like that, but nobody wanted a lame old 


MERRY HOME STORIES 


9 


lion. Mr. Purdy, our neighbor, happened in, 
and he couldn’t bear to have him killed. So 
what did he do but bid ten dollars for him, 
and he was the only bidder. He’s going to 
give the lion a good time in his old age.” 

saw him come home,” Tommy said im¬ 
portantly. 

‘‘1 saw him get his luncheon,” Lucy said. 

‘^Hear me roar like him,” little Billy said 
with a terrible noise. 

saw him limping about the grounds on a 
long rope this afternoon,” Mother added. 
was watching across the wall.” 

^‘Fine neighbors, and a fine, honest family 
at home,” Father said, although no one could 
ever have doubted it. And then the family 
laughed very hard, for the joke was, just a 
little, on Father. 


THE TALE OP THE TIGER 


O NCE upon a time, in a country far away 
from here, there was a boy who had a 
yellow striped Tiger with green eyes given 
him for his eighth birthday. It was a toy 
Tiger on wheels and its striped coat was made 
of yellow cloth and its green eyes wei'e made 
of glass. 

It could growl loudly if the boy pulled its 
head down, but it never moved or made a sound 
of its own accord. 

The morning of his birthday the Boy built 
a large, strong cage of blocks for his toy Tiger 
and then he put on his cap and his coat and 
went out in his yard to play. 

His Friend came up the street just then and 
stopped at the Boy’s gate. The Boy leaned 
over the gate and, looking back in a make- 
believe, scared way toward his front door, said 
in a whisper: 

have a Tiger in my house. A tiger could 
eat you up!” 

‘‘Bear me!” said his Friend, “I don’t think 
I will come in and play. I have to go right 
home.” 


10 




MERRY HOME STORIES 


11 


And with that the Friend hurried back to 
his own house, although he had really come 
to make a birthday call and had a red top with 
gilt markings in his pocket to give to the Boy. 

‘‘Ha, ha! That was a good joke!’’ the Boy 
chuckled to himself and then he forgot all 
about it. 

But the tale of the Tiger went on. 

The Boy’s Friend went into his kitchen as 
soon as he reached home where the cook was 
making gingerbread. Between bites he told 
her about it. 

“A Boy up the street has a Tiger in his 
house,” he said. “It could eat us up!” 

“Dear me!” said the Cook, almost dropping 
the second pan of gingerbread. When she 
went to the back door to let the Ice Man in, 
she told the tale of the Tiger, but she did not 
repeat it just as it had come to her, because 
she was a little deaf. 

“Up the street there’s a Tiger in a yard,” 
the Cook warned the Ice Man. “It will eat 
us up if something isn’t done to stop it.” 

“Dear me!” said the Ice Man, hurrying out 
to the street and rattling his ice tongs to at¬ 
tract the attention of a policeman, for the tale 
of the Tiger was to go on and on. 

“Here’s work for you,” the Ice Man called 


12 


MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 


to the Policeman. ‘‘Up the street there are 
Tigers in a yard and they’re likely to eat up 
the whole town.” The Ice Man thought he 
was repeating the story just as the Cook had 
told it to him, but he had been too excited to 
get it straight. 

“Dear me!” said the Policeman, starting 
toward the station house and considering on 
the way. “That’s a great danger to this 
town. Those Tigers must have got loose on 
their way to the Zoo, but we haven’t any ropes 
or cages in the police department.” So when 
the Policeman reached the station house he 
telephoned to the Fire Chief. He intended to 
tell the real tale of the Tiger, but the telephone 
connection was poor and this is what the Fire 
Chief heard: 

“Up the street there are Tigers in a yard 
and they’ll soon be eating up the whole town!” 

“Dear me!” the Fire Chief answered. 
“I’ll start right away with the hose, the hook 
and ladder and plenty of rope. You had bet¬ 
ter come too.” 

Near dinner time the Boy took a handful 
of grass in to feed the Toy Tiger in his cage 
up in the playroom. Then he made the Tiger 
growl loudly. The day was warm and the 
windows were open so the sound of the Tiger’s 


MERRY HOME STORIES 


13 


growl went down the street to the place where 
a great company was waiting. 

‘^That’s the Tiger! This way; hurry!” the 
crowd shouted. 

Up the street galloped the fire company. 
On came some policemen with clubs. Back of 
them came the Cook with a rolling pin, and 
the Boy’s Friend, without the top, for he had 
decided to keep it. They all stopped in front 
of the Boy’s home. 

When they found no Tiger eating up peo¬ 
ple in the yard, only a Toy Tiger that the Boy’s 
mother showed them at the window of the play¬ 
room, they were very much put out about all 
this unnecessary trouble. 

The Boy was so ashamed that he stayed in 
the house all the rest of the day, and the Tiger 
looked at him with its green glass eyes. They 
had a new wise look as if the tiger was telling 
the Boy that any tale, even a true one, may 
change as it travels. 


THE GOOSE, THE PIG, AND THE 
SCARECROW 


O NCE upon a time, in the days when your 
grandfather was a boy, and almost 
every one lived on a farm, there were three 
little boys named Hiram, John, and Charlie 
who lived, too, on a farm. And each of these 
brothers was afraid of—no, not bears, or 
thunder, or work, or anything like that. No; 
Hiram, and John, and Charlie were afraid of 
the minister! 

There was really no reason why they should 
have been afraid of the minister, for he had 
never done a single thing to them. They saw 
him every Sunday in the big pulpit in the 
meeting house, and after church was over he 
stood at the door and shook hands with the 
congregation. He had a buggy and a white 
horse to take him around among the farms 
calling, but he had never as yet called at the 
boys’ house. They were so afraid of him that 
they hoped he never would come. 

One pleasant day in the summer, Hiram 
came in with a large basket of eggs he had just 
found in the nests in the barn and when he 

14 


MERRY HOME STORIES 


15 


gave them to his mother, she exclaimed, ^‘Oh, 
Hiram, I am so glad to have those eggs, for I 
want to make a sponge cake. The minister 
is coming to tea.” 

Just then, John, and Charlie came in the 
kitchen and their mother spoke to them about 
it. “John,” she said, “I wish you would try 
to get the cows home as early as you can to¬ 
night, for I want you to help wait on table. 
And Charlie, you run right over to your Aunt 
Susan’s and ask her if I can borrow her gold 
and white china cake plate. The minister is 
coming to tea!” 

The three little boys did not say a word, but 
they all went out and sat down behind the 
wood pile. They looked at each other, and 
tried to think of something to do. They 
were afraid to sit down at table with the minis¬ 
ter. They were afraid to shake hands with 
the minister. They were afraid to be any¬ 
where around when he came. The whole 
truth of the matter was that Hiram, and John, 
and Charlie were bashful, only they did not 
know it. 

“We will have to run away!” said Hiram. 

“Yes, we will have to run away!” said John. 

“Oh, yes, we will have to run away!” said 
Charlie. 


16 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

So these three little boys, who had never 
done such a thing in their lives before, ran 
away. They ran away from the minister, and 
they ran so fast that they went in different 
directions. Each thought only of himself; it 
did not matter to him where his brothers went 

Their mother was very busy all the after¬ 
noon making sponge cake, and baking ham, 
and getting preserves up from the cellar, and 
the best gold banded china down from the 
china closet shelves. Before she had time to 
miss them, the boys were safely hidden, and 
the minister came. 

He tied his horse just like anyone else, and 
rubbed his hands when he saw the company 
tea table. Mother asked him if he would ask 
a blessing and he said he would as soon as all 
the family were there. So they waited, but 
the little boys did not come. Mother decided 
at last that Hiram and John and Charlie were 
all bringing home the cows and were having 
trouble, so at last the minister asked a bless¬ 
ing without them. Then he complimented 
mother on her fine supper, and the family and 
he ate it. 

After supper the minister said that he 
would like to go around the farm. And 
Father said that he would particularly like to 




MERRY HOME STORIES 


17 


have him see a prize goose. ‘‘She is nesting 
just now,” Father told the minister, “in an 
empty cask out in the barnyard. She has her 
own ideas about nesting, but she will let us 
look at her.” 

The minister said that he would be delighted 
to see the prize goose, so he went out to the 
barnyard with Father, but the cask was not 
there. There was a mark in the mud of the 
barnyard as if it had rolled, and Father was 
very much excited. “Who has taken my 
prize goose*?” he said as he and the minister 
followed the track of the barrel. 

They followed the track where the barnyard 
sloped toward the duck pond, and there, stuck 
in the mud of the pond, near the bank, was the 
cask. Father, with the minister’s help, pulled 
it to shore. “A fine, fat goose, she is so 
heavy,” said the minister. But out of the 
cask came Hiram. The goose had left her 
nest, and he had hid in the cask. But he had 
wriggled too much in it, and sent it rolling 
into the pond. 

Father was very much ashamed, but he de¬ 
cided to wait and settle the matter later. 
“Would you like to see my prize pig?” he 
asked the minister, and the minister said that 
he would. 


18 


MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 


The pig pen was only a step from the pond, 
and Hiram went along with them, for he did 
not know what else to do. ‘^This pig took a 
prize at the spring fair,’’ Father said, ^Hhe 
one over there in the corner.” But instead of 
a pig, out from the corner of the pig pen 
crawled John, very muddy and ashamed. 

The minister put on his spectacles, and 
used his handkerchief to keep from laughing. 
‘‘A prize pig!” was all he said as John fol¬ 
lowed them away from the pig pen, not know¬ 
ing what else to do. 

Father was so ashamed that he hardly knew 
what to say, but at last he asked the minister 
if he would like to go over to the corn field. 

have a big crop of corn this year,” he told 
him. So they went over toward the field. 

have had a lot of trouble with crows,” 
Father said, have thought of trying to set 
up some new kind of scarecrow.” But just 
as he said that, they saw a scarecrow on the 
fence. It was Charlie, hanging there by his 
torn clothes. He was all scratched up, his cap 
torn, and his trousers caught by nails where he 
had tried to get over the fence and run away. 
Charlie was the youngest one, and poor at 
climbing high rail fences. 

will settle this later,” Father said as he 



MERRY HOME STORIES 


19 


lifted Charlie down, but the minister put his 
hand on Father’s arm. ‘‘Wait a minute,” he 
said, and then he looked at the three boys. He 
knew why they had run away, for they looked 
bashful. “It is settled,” the minister said, 
“We have here a goose, a pig, and a scare¬ 
crow.” Then he laughed. How the minister 
did laugh! Father laughed, and the boys 
laughed, and that was all there was to it, ex¬ 
cept that Hiram, and John, and Charlie were 
never afraid of the minister after that. 


CAEOLINE’S DOUGH-CAKE 


O NCE upon a time, when your grand¬ 
mother was a little girl, there was a 
white house with tall pillars and green blinds 
that stood on the edge of the village common. 
And in the house there lived a little girl named 
Caroline. And Caroline had a great-aunt 
Patience who lived in the country. 

One morning in the spring the milkman, rid¬ 
ing in from the country, brought a message to 
Caroline. ‘^Your Aunt Patience is making 
dough-cake today,” the milkman said, ‘‘and 
she sent word to say that she would like you to 
come and take tea with her.” 

Almost any little girl would have loved that 
invitation, for dough-cake was ever so good. 
It was made of the lightest kind of bread 
dough, sweetened with brown sugar, stuffed 
with raisins, marked in a pattern with a fork, 
and baked a light brown color. But Caroline 
was not pleased. 

“If Aunt Patience were only baking sponge¬ 
cake, or fruit-cahe, or pound-cake, or frosted 

gingerbread,” she sighed, “how much nicer it 
20 


MERRY HOME STORIES 


21 


would be.’^ And she frowned when her 
mother dressed her in her yellow muslin frock 
with the ruffles. And she scowled when she 
saw the hired man drive up to the stepping 
stone at the end of the driveway for her. 
And she hardly smiled at all when her little 
old Aunt Patience welcomed her at the little 
old farmhouse where she lived in the country. 

There were three of them at tea; Caroline, 
Aunt Patience, and Toby, Aunt Patience’s 
pug dog, who always sat in a high chair at 
table, wearing a bib, and behaving very well. 
It was a pretty tea, thin slices of cold ham, 
creamy potatoes, hot biscuits, golden apple 
sauce, and thick slices of the warm dough- 
cake. Toby had bread and milk in a china 
bowl and lapped it without spilling. Caro¬ 
line should have enjoyed her tea, but she was 
a rather spoiled little girl about cake. 

Caroline did not think that dough-cake was 
cake. She wanted sponge cake, or fruit-cake, 
or pound-cake, or frosted gingerbread. 
There are little girls like that now, in some 
places. 

Aunt Patience thought that Caroline was ill 
when she refused a large piece of the plummy 
dough-cake cut in the shape of a piece of pie. 
Then she had an idea. '^You’ve eaten so 


22 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

much beside, Caroline,’’ she said, ‘^that you 
have lost your appetite. I know what to do.” 
And she hurried out to the kitchen, for the 
hired man had just driven up to the door to 
take Caroline home. ‘‘Here is a nice little 
dough-cake for you to take home,” she told 
Caroline, bringing it in neatly wrapped up in 
a white napkin with red fringe.” You can 
eat it for your tea tomorrow,” she said. 

“Thank you. Aunt Patience,” Caroline said, 
holding the dough-cake as she stepped up into 
the buggj^ But she was not thinking thank 
you in her heart. She really did not want 
that nice, little round loaf of dough-cake. 
What do you think she did with it 

When they had driven into Aunt Patience’s 
woods where it was dusk-dark and still, Caro¬ 
line leaned out of the buggy. When the hired 
man was not looking, she threw the dough- 
cake out at the side of the road! 

Not far from Caroline’s house there was a 
little red farmhouse where her friend, John, 
lived. John used to stop for Caroline in the 
morning and carry her books to school. 
There was almost a spring freshet for a few 
days, so there was no school. But the sun 
came out at last and the two started one morn¬ 
ing for the schoolhouse. 


MERRY HOME STORIES 


23 


‘‘Let’s come home the long way by the 
woods, Caroline,” John said. “There’s 
something by an oak stump that I want to 
show you. I saw it last night when I was 
bringing home the cows. It is a kind of giant 
toad-stool, the biggest one I ever saw.” 

“Oh!” said Caroline, “maybe it is for a 
fairy party table.” 

School seemed very long that day, and by 
the time John and Caroline started home they 
were both hungry. “I wish I had some of my 
Aunt Patience’s dough-cake with raisins. I 
did have a dough-cake not long ago,” Caro¬ 
line said. 

“And ate it up, I suppose. Pig!” laughed 
John. Caroline did not say anything. Just 
then they entered the woods and John spoke. 
“I hope it’s not gone,” he said. “No, there 
it is right by the side of the road. I couldn’t 
stop to look at it much last night, but did you 
ever see so fat and high a—^why-y!” John 
stopped at what he saw. 

Caroline did not speak either, for there, be¬ 
side the giant toad-stool that seemed to have 
raised itself beside the road, was Aunt Pa¬ 
tience in her shawl and bonnet. Beside Aunt 
Patience was Toby with a draggled white nap¬ 
kin with red fringe in his mouth. Toby 


24 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

seemed very much excited. He was pawing 
all around the toad-stool. It was not a toad¬ 
stool. 

It was the nice, little round dough-cake 
swelled and swelled by the rain and its yeast 
inside! 

was so afraid that something had hap¬ 
pened to you/’ Aunt Patience said, ‘‘when 
Toby came home this afternoon with the nap¬ 
kin. He would have me follow him here. ’ ’ 

“Why, here is the dough-cake Caroline said 
she wished she had,” John said at last, “she 
must have lost it,” and his eyes twinkled. So 
did Aunt Patience’s eyes twinkle. “How it 
did rise!” she said. And Toby shook and 
shook the napkin, and pawed and pawed the 
dough-cake. He was the only one who didn’t 
understand that not a sponge-cake, or a fruit¬ 
cake, or a pound-cake, or a frosted ginger¬ 
bread loaf could have done what that dough- 
cake had for Caroline. 

She never forgot it, and it is a true story 
for Caroline was Grandmother. 


LITTLE ROAST PIG 


M ary ELLEN thought that never, even 
when the country fair was held in the 
green country from which she and all the fam¬ 
ily had just come, had she ever seen anything 
so wonderful as the big city market. 

It was a great red brick building, and it 
stood not so very far from the great yellow 
brick building, on the top floor of which Mary 
Ellen and all the family now lived. The very 
first day after they were settled Mother, with 
a large basket, and Mary Ellen, with a little 
basket, went over to the city market to buy 
some food. 

Oh, and there they saw the Butter-and-Eggs 
man, dressed all in white, who stood behind a 
toy-size farm house and served his customers 
with pats of yellow butter and even with combs 
of dripping golden honey. The Fruit-and- 
Vegetables man, with a gay red handkerchief 
tied about his neck, stood among piles of ap¬ 
ples and oranges and heads of lettuce and red 
beets and green peas and beans. 

There was a Baker man and an Oyster man. 

25 


26 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

The entire market was draped gaily with fes¬ 
toons of colored paper and greens. Before 
she realized it, Mary Ellen was separated in 
the crowd from Mother, but she did not wait 
to be frightened because she was lost. She 
had stopped in front of the Butcher man’s 
counter, and there she sorrowfully read a sign: 

‘‘Boasting Pigs For Sale.” 

Then Mary Ellen laughed, for she heard a 
merry little squeal. There, in a crate under 
the Butcher man’s counter, was a small pink 
pig. He might easily have been one of the 
small pink pigs from the big pig-pen at Mary 
Ellen’s farm in the country. She bent over 
Little Roast Pig and gave him a rosy apple 
from her market basket. Then she opened 
her very own beaded purse that hung from a 
chain on her arm and counted the money in it. 
Mary Ellen did not really need to count the 
money in the beaded purse, for she knew ex¬ 
actly how much there was. She always 
carried the purse when she went out, so as to 
be sure that all that money which she had 
been saving in it for ever so long was safe. 
There was two dollars, in four shining fifty 
cent pieces, and Mary Ellen was going to put 
it in a bank as soon as she and Mother found 


MERRY HOME STORIES 


27 


one near them in the city. But now she had 
changed her mind. She spoke bravely to the 
Butcher man: 

Would you sell Little Boast Pig before he 
is roasted for four bright fifty cent pieces?’’ 
Mary Ellen asked. 

The Butcher man stopped weighing strings 
of sausages and looked down at Mary Ellen. 
She stood in front of him in her country, blue 
calico dress, and her country hat with a 
mended rim and faded ribbons, but wearing 
the sunniest country smile that he had ever 
seen. 

‘‘I don’t think that he wants to be roasted,” 
she went on, have all that money, and I will 
pay it to you for him.” 

‘‘Well, that is a fair bargain,” the Butcher 
man said, “all your money for a pig that I 
don’t want to keep. I’ve been thinking just 
that myself about him, that he wouldn’t relish 
being roasted. He is here only to advertise 
and there is plenty of business without him. 
All day long he squeals like that as if he 
wanted to go home with the children. Here 
you are,” and the Butcher man opened the 
crate, and set the little pig up on the counter. 

Mary Ellen counted out her four bright fifty 
cent pieces and laid them beside him there on 


28 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

the counter. She was just going to lift him 
off when the Butcher man had a kind thought. 
He pulled down some of his red tissue paper 
festoons and made a ruffled collar for Little 
Roast Pig, like the ruffs that lords and ladies 
used to wear. 

‘‘There you are,’’ he said, and he put the 
pig into Mary Ellen’s tender arms. 

When Mary Ellen discovered that she had 
strayed away from Mother, she very sensibly 
went straight home, for she had remembered 
the way. Mother did not come for quite a 
long while, and shortly after she did come. 
Aunt Jane arrived with the dear baby for 
whom she had been caring until the family 
should be quite all settled and ready for him. 
And before they knew it, it was bed time. 

That night, when there were no sounds in 
the city except the whistling of the tug boats 
on the river, and when everyone in the great 
yellow apartment house was asleep, a strange 
noise awoke the other families who lived on 
the top floor near Mary Ellen’s family. It 
awoke Mary Ellen and her family also. It 
was a strange kind of squealing noise and it 
seemed to come from the high roof. 

“Burglars!” everyone cried and they all, in¬ 
cluding the janitor and Mary Ellen and 


MERRY HOME STORIES 


29 


Mother and Father, went out into the hall to 
listen. There it came again, that strange 
sound. It was a series of squeals. 

‘^Oh!^’ exclaimed Mary Ellen, ‘^that must 
be Little Roast Pig crying for his supper. I 
am afraid that I forgot to feed him.” 

‘^Little Roast Pig'?” they all asked. 

^^Yes,” Mary Ellen explained. tiny, 

tiny alive pink pig that I bought at the mar¬ 
ket with all my money, for I thought that he 
would rather be bought that way, all nice and 
wriggly. And when I came home, I put him 
up on the roof in a packing box for a pen.” 

How everyone laughed, and then each fam¬ 
ily found something for the little pig’s supper! 

In the morning. Mother went over to the 
market to see if Mary Ellen had paid enough 
to the Butcher man, and to explain how she 
had loved all the animals in the country. It 
was too much, the Butcher man said, and he 
sent back two of the bright fifty cent pieces to 
go in the bank. And the best part of it was 
that Little Roast Pig lived there on the roof 
of the apartment house, and was a Little 
Pet Pig. 


THE DISCONTENTED PENDULUM 


A n old Clock, that had stood for fifty years 
in a farmer’s kitchen without giving any 
trouble, early one summer’s morning, before 
the family was stirring, suddenly stopped. 

Upon this, the Dial-plate changed counte¬ 
nance with alarm, the Hands tried to keep on 
moving, the Wheels stood still with surprise, 
and the Weights hung speechless. Each 
member felt like laying the blame on the 
others. 

At length the Dial started a formal inquiry 
into the cause of the stop, when the Hands, 
Wheels, Weights, and all with one voice pro¬ 
claimed their innocence. But at last a faint 
sound came from the Pendulum, who spoke: 

must confess myself to be the sole cause 
of the present stop, and am willing to give my 
reasons. The truth is, that I am tired of tick¬ 
ing.” 

Upon this, the old Clock became so enraged 
that it was on the point of striking. 

‘‘Lazy Wire!” exclaimed the Dial-plate. 

30 


MERRY HOME STORIES 


31 


to that/’ replied the Pendulum, ^4t is 
vastly easy for you, Mistress Dial, who have 
always, as everybody knows, set yourself 
above me—it is vastly easy for you, I say, to 
accuse other people of laziness—you who have 
nothing to do all your life but stare people 
in the face, and to amuse yourself watching 
all that goes on in the kitchen. Think, I beg 
you, how you would like to be shut up for life 
in this dark closet, and wag backward and 
forward, year in and year out, as I do!” 

‘‘As to that,” replied the Dial, “is there not 
a window in your house on purpose for you to 
look through?” 

“And what of that?” asked the Pendulum, 
“Although there is a window, I dare not stop, 
even for an instant, to look out. Besides, I 
am tired of my life, and I will tell you the 
reason why. This morning I happened to 
be counting how many times I should have to 
tick in the course of only the next twenty 
four hours—can any one of you tell me the 
number?” 

The Minute-hand, being quick at figures, in¬ 
stantly replied, “Eighty-six thousand, four 
hundred times.” 

“Exactly so,” replied the Pendulum, “well, 
I ask you all if the thought is not enough to 


32 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

fatigue one? And when I began to multiply 
the strokes of one day by those of weeks, 
months, and years, no wonder I grew discour¬ 
aged ! So, after thinking it over, I said to my¬ 
self, ‘I’ll just stop!’ ” 

The Dial could scarcely keep her counte¬ 
nance, but said at last, “Dear Mr. Pendulum, 
I am really astonished that such a useful, in¬ 
dustrious person as yourself should have been 
overcome by this thought. You have done a 
great deal of work in your time. So have we 
all, and are likely to do. And though this may 
tire us to tMnk of, the question is, will it tire 
us to do f Will you be so good as to give about 
half a dozen strokes to illustrate what I 
mean?” 

The Pendulum was willing and ticked six 
times at its usual pace. 

“Now,” went on the Dial, “did that wear 
you out? Was it very fatiguing to you?” 

“Not in the least,” said the Pendulum. “I 
am not thinking of six strokes, but of mil¬ 
lions.” 

“Very good,” replied the Dial, “but remem¬ 
ber that you don’t have to tick a million times, 
but only once at a time. Whenever you have 
to swing, the Works will give you a minute to 
swing in.” 


MERRY HOME STORIES 


33 


‘‘I never thought of that,” said the Pendu¬ 
lum. ^ ^ It quite staggers me. ’ ’ 

‘‘Then I hope,” said the Dial, “that we may 
all return to our duty, for the farmer’s family 
will lie in bed until noon if we stand idling 
here.” 

So the Weights, who had never been guilty 
of any light conduct, used all their influence to 
swing the Pendulum. The Wheels began to 
turn, the Hands to move, and the Pendulum 
swung. It ticked as loudly as it ever had. 
While a beam of the rising sun that streamed 
in through a hole in the kitchen shutter, shone 
full upon the Dial and made it brighten up as 
if nothing had happened. 

When the farmer came down to breakfast, 
he said, looking at the Clock, that his watch had 
gained half an hour in the night. 


THE MATCHES 


ERE was once a bundle of Matches, and 



A these Matches were very proud of their 
high descent. Their genealogical tree, that is 
to say, the great fir tree of which each of them 
was a splinter, had been a great old tree out in 
a forest. The Matches now lay between a Tin¬ 
der-Box and an old iron Pot; and they were 
telling about the days of their youth. 

‘‘Yes, when we were upon the green boughs,” 
they said, “then we were really upon the green 
boughs! Every morning there was diamond 
tea for us, made of dew. We had sunshine all 
day long, whenever the sun shone, and all the 
little birds had to tell us stories. We could 
see very well that we were rich, for the other 
trees were well dressed only in summer, while 
our family had the means to dress in green in 
the winter as well. 

“But then the woodcutter came, like a great 
revolution, and our family was broken up. 
The head of the family got an appointment as 
mainmast on a first rate ship, which could sail 


34 


MERRY HOME STORIES 


35 


round the world if necessary. The other 
branches all went to other places, and now we 
have the office of kindling a light for the vulgar 
herd. That’s how we happen to be in the 
kitchen.” 

‘‘My fate was of a different kind,” said the 
Pot which stood next to the Matches. “From 
the beginning, ever since I came into the 
world, there has been a great deal of scouring 
and cooking done in me. I look after the 
practical part, and am the first here in the 
kitchen. My greatest pleasure is to sit in my 
place after dinner, very clean and neat, and to 
talk sensibly with my friends. But, except the 
Water-Pot, which is sometimes taken down 
into the courtyard, we always live here, within 
our four walls. 

“Our only news monger is the Market- 
Basket, and he speaks very uneasily about af¬ 
fairs out in the world. Yes, the other day, an 
old pot fell down and burst from fright at the 
tales of the Market-Basket.” 

“Now you’re talking too much,” said the 
Tinder-Box, and its steel hit the flint until the 
sparks flew. “Shall we not have a merry 
evening?” 

“Yes, let us talk about who is the grandest,” 
said the Matches. 


36 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

‘‘No, I do not like to talk about myself,’’ said 
the Pot. “Let us get up an evening’s enter¬ 
tainment. I will tell a story. Once upon a 
time—” 

“What an interesting way you have of tell¬ 
ing a story!” interrupted the Carpet Broom. 

“Yes, one cannot help but notice that,” said 
the Water-Pot, and it gave a little hop of de¬ 
light, so that there was a splash upon the 
floor. 

And the Pot went on telling the story, the end 
of which was as good as the beginning. All 
the Plates rattled for joy, and the Carpet 
Broom brought some green parsley out of the 
dust hole, and put it like a wreath on the Pot, 
knowing that this would make the others jeal¬ 
ous. “If I crown her today, she will crown 
me tomorrow,” the Carpet-Broom thought. 

“Now I will dance,” said the Fire-Tongs, 
and she danced. How she could hop! The old 
Chair Cushion burst to see it. “Shall I be 
crowned?” wondered the Fire-Tongs, and in¬ 
deed she was given a wreath of parsley also. 

“They’re only common people after all,” 
thought the Matches. 

Now the Tea-Urn was to sing; but she said 
that she had taken cold and could not sing un¬ 
less she felt boiling within. That was only a 


MERRY HOME STORIES 


37 


notion. She did not want to sing unless she 
sat in the drawing room with grand people. 

In the window sat an old Quill Pen, with 
which the cook generally wrote. There was 
nothing remarkable about this pen except that 
he had been dipped too deeply into the ink, 
but he was proud of that. ‘‘If the Tea-Urn 
wonT sing, she needn’t,’’ he said. “Outside 
hangs a nightingale in a cage and he can sing. 
He hasn’t had any education, but his manners 
are good.” 

“I think it very wrong,” said the Tea Kettle, 
who was the kitchen singer, and half brother 
to the Tea Urn, “that so rich and foreign a bird 
should be listened to! Is it patrioticI ask 
the Market Basket to decide.” 

“I am vexed,” said the Market Basket. 
“No one can imagine how much I am secretly 
vexed. Is this a proper way to spend an eve¬ 
ning in the kitchen? Would it not be more 
sensible to put things in order % Let each one 
go to his own place and I will arrange a game. 
That would be quite the proper arrangement.” 

“Yes, let us make a disturbance,” they all 
cried. But just then the door opened, and the 
maid came in. They all stood still; not one 
dared to stir. But there was not one pot 
among them who did not know what he could 


38 


MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 


do, and how grand he was. ‘‘Yes, if I had 
liked,’’ each one thought, “it would have been 
a merrier evening.” 

But the Matches said nothing. They were 
too proud to speak, for they were so sure that 
there was no one in the kitchen, or in the whole 
house who even approached them in grandeur. 
The servant girl took the Matches to light the 
fire. How they sputtered, and burst into 
fiame! 

“Now every one can see,” they said, “how 
important we are, that we are the first! How 
we shine! What a light!” 

And then the Matches burned out. 


THE SHIET COLLAR 


T here was once a rich gentleman whose 
whole effects consisted of a Bootjack and 
a Hair Comb, but he had the finest Shirt Col¬ 
lar in the world, and about this Shirt Collar 
we will tell a story. 

The Collar was now old enough to think of 
setting up an establishment of his own, and it 
happened that he was sent to the wash in the 
company of a Garter. 

‘‘My word!’^ exclaimed the Shirt Collar. 
“I have never seen anything so slender and 
delicate, so chaining and genteel. May I ask 
you your name?” 

“I shall not tell you,” said the Garter. 

‘ ‘ Where is your home ? ’ ’ asked the Shirt Col¬ 
lar. 

But the Garter would not answer this ques¬ 
tion either. 

“I presume you are a fashionable girdle,” 
said the Shirt Collar. “You look to be useful 
as well as ornamental, my little lady.” 

“You are not to speak to me,” said the Gar- 
39 


40 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

ter. ‘‘I have not, I am sure, given you any oc¬ 
casion to.’’ 

‘‘Oh, when one is as beautiful as you are,” 
cried the Shirt Collar, “that is occasion 
enough.” 

“Go!” cried the Garter, “Don’t come so 
near me. You look to me like a monster.” 

“I am a fine gentleman,” said the Shirt Col¬ 
lar. “I own a bootjack and a hair-comb.” 
And this was not true at all, for it was his 
master who owned these things. The Shirt 
Collar was only boasting. 

“Don’t come too near me,” the Garter re¬ 
peated. ‘ ‘ I am not used to it. ’ ’ But just then 
they were taken out of the wash, starched, and 
hung over a chair in the sunshine. They were 
next laid on the ironing board, and now came 
the hot Iron. 

“Mrs. Widow,” said the Shirt Collar, “lit¬ 
tle Mrs. Widow, I’m getting too warm. I am 
being quite changed. I am losing all my 
creases. You are burning a hole in me. I 
pray you give up your work and come and 
keep house for me.” 

“You old Rag!” said the Iron, and rode 
proudly on over the Shirt Collar, for she fan¬ 
cied that she was a steam boiler and ought to 
be out on railroad tracks drawing parlor cars. 


MEREY HOME STORIES 


41 


“You old Rag!” said the Iron, going right on. 

After he was ironed, the Shirt Collar was a 
little frayed at the edge, so the Scissors came 
to smooth away the frayed part. 

“Ho, ho!” said the Collar, “I presume you 
are a dancer from the theatre. How well you 
are able to point your toes! No one in the 
world, I am positive, could do it as well.” 

“I know that,” replied the Scissors sharply. 

“You deserve to be a countess,” said the 
Shirt Collar. “All that I possess consists of a 
fine gentleman, a bootjack, and a comb. If I 
only had an estate!” 

“What! Do you want to share these with 
me!” cried the Scissors, and gave such a deep 
cut that the Collar could never be worn again. 

“I shall have to ask the Hair Comb to join 
me in my housekeeping,” thought the Shirt 
Collar after he had been sent home in this dam¬ 
aged condition. He stood beside her on the 
dresser, and he spoke to her softly and politely, 
“How well you have kept your teeth, in spite 
of your age, little lady. Have you ever 
thought of having an establishment of your 
own?” 

“I have thought of that,” said the Comb. 
“I am engaged to the Bootjack.” 

A long time passed, and the Shirt Collar was 


42 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

put into the sack of a paper-miller. He found 
himself there in a very ragged company, and 
the finer ones kept to themselves, and the 
coarser ones to theirs, which was the right 
thing to do. They all had much to tell, but the 
Shirt Collar had the most of all, for he was 
such a Jack Brag. 

have been a very great gentleman in my 
time,” said the Shirt Collar. ^‘People would 
not leave me alone, but I was fine, and starched 
into the bargain. I had a Bootjack and a Hair 
Comb that I never used. I shall never forget 
my dearest friend, a little Girdle, so delicate, 
so genteel, so charming she was! And this 
Girdle threw herself into a washing tub, all 
for me! 

<< There was an Iron, a widow, who became 
quite glowing, but I let her stand alone until 
she became black with despair. And there was 
a dancer who gave me the wound from which I 
still suffer—she was very sharp and quick tem¬ 
pered. My own Hair Comb was anxious to 
set up housekeeping with me, and lost all her 
teeth because I refused. 

‘‘Yes, I have had many experiences of a 
kind; but I am most sorry for the Garter—I 
mean for the Girdle, who jumped into the wash 
tub for me. I have a great deal on my con- 


MERRY HOME STORIES 


43 


science. Why, here I am turning into paper! ’ ^ 
And to that the Shirt Collar came. All the 
rags were made into white paper, but the Shirt 
Collar became the very piece of paper we see 
here, and upon which this story is printed. 
And that was done because he boasted so dread¬ 
fully about things that were not at all true. 


THE SHEPHERDESS AND THE 
CHIMNEY-SWEEPER 


H ave you ever seen a very old wooden 
cupboard, quite black with age, and 
ornamented with carvings ? 

Just such a cupboard stood in a parlor. It 
had been a legacy from the great-grandmother, 
and was covered from top to bottom with 
carved roses and tulips. In the middle of the 
cupboard door an entire figure of a man had 
been cut. He was certainly ridiculous to look 
at and he grinned, for you could not call it 
laughing. He had goat’s legs, little horns on 
his head, and a long beard. The children in 
the room called him the Billy-goat-legs-Lieu- 
tenant - and - Major - General - War - Com¬ 
mander-Sergeant. That was a difficult name 
to say. 

He was always looking at the table under the 
mirror, for on this table stood a lovely little 
Shepherdess made of china. Her shoes were 
gilt. Her dress was neatly caught up with 
a red rose, and besides this she had a 

44 


MERRY HOME STORIES 


45 


golden hat and a shepherd’s crook. She was 
very lovely. Close by her stood a little Chim¬ 
ney-Sweeper, black as coal, but made also of 
porcelain. He was as clean and neat as any 
man, for it was only make-believe that he was 
a sweep. 

There he stood, very nattily, with his ladder, 
and with a face as white and pink as a girl’s. 
And that was really a fault, for he ought to 
have been entirely black. He stood quite close 
to the Shepherdess, and they were engaged. 
They suited each other very well. Both were 
young people, made of the same kind of china, 
and both equally frail. 

Close to them stood another figure three 
times greater than they. This was an old 
Chinaman, who could nod. He was also of 
porcelain, and declared himself to be the 
grandfather of the little Shepherdess, but he 
was not able to prove his relationship. Still he 
said that he had authority over her, and on that 
account he had nodded to Mr. Billy-goat-legs- 
Lieutenant - and - Major - General - War-Com¬ 
mander-Sergeant, who wanted to woo her for 
his wife. 

‘‘Then you will get a husband!” said the old 
Chinaman, “a man who, I verily believe, is 
made of mahogany. He has a whole cupboard 


46 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

full of silver plate, beside all that he hoards in 
the secret drawers.’^ 

won’t go into that dark cupboard,” said 
the little Shepherdess, ‘‘I have heard that he 
has eleven porcelain wives in there,” 

‘‘Then you will be the twelfth,” said the 
wicked old Chinaman. ‘ ‘ This night, so soon as 
the cupboard creaks, you shall have the wed¬ 
ding, as surely as I am a Chinaman.” 

And with that he nodded his head and fell 
asleep. But the little Shepherdess wept, and 
looked at her loved one, the Chimney-Sweeper. 

“I beg of you,” she said to him, “that we go 
out into the wide world, for I can remain here 
no longer.” 

“I will do whatever you like,” said the 
Chimney-Sweeper. “Let us start directly. I 
think that I can support you by sweeping 
chimneys.” 

“If I were only safely down the table,” she 
said, but he comforted her. He showed her 
how she must place her little foot upon the 
carved corners and the gilded foliage down the 
leg of the table. He carried his ladder, too, to 
help her, and they were soon together on the 
floor. But when they looked up at the old cup¬ 
board there was great commotion. The Billy- 
goat - legs - Lieutenant - and - Major - General- 


MERRY HOME STORIES 


47 


War-Commander-Sergeant had sprung high 
up in the air, and called across to the China¬ 
man, ^‘Now they’re running away! They’re 
running away!” 

The old Chinaman was awake, and shaking 
his whole body with anger. He could do this, 
for below he was all one lump. The little 
Shepherdess was so frightened that she fell 
down on one porcelain knee, but she did not 
crack. 

‘^Have you really the courage to go out into 
the wide world with me?” asked the Chimney 
Sweeper, ‘^Have you considered how wide the 
world is, and that we can never come back here 
again?” 

‘ ^ I have, ’ ’ she replied. 

The Chimney Sweeper looked fondly at her, 
and said, ‘^My way is up the chimney. If you 
have really the courage to creep through the 
stove—through the iron fire box—as well as 
up the pipe, then we can get out into the chim¬ 
ney, and I know how to find my way through 
there. We will mount so high that they can’t 
catch us, and quite at the top there’s a hole that 
leads out into the world.” 

And he led her to the door of the stove. 

‘ ‘ It looks very black in there, ’ ’ she said, but 
still she went with him, through the box and 


48 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

through the pipe, where it was pitch-dark 
night. 

‘‘Now we are in the chimney,” he told her at 
last, “and look, look! Up yonder a beautiful 
star is shining!” 

It was a real star in the real sky, which shone 
straight down upon them, as if it would show 
them the way. And they clambered and crept. 
It was a frightful way, and terribly steep, but 
he supported her and helped her up. He held 
her and showed her the best peaces where she 
might set her little porcelain feet. Thus they 
reached the edge of the chimney and sat down, 
for they were very tired. 

The sky with all its stars was high above, 
and all the roofs of the town deep below them. 
They looked far around—far, far out into the 
wide world. The poor little Shepherdess had 
never thought of it as it really was. She 
leaned her head against the Chimney-Sweeper, 
and cried so hard that the gold ran down off 
her girdle. 

‘ ‘ I cannot bear it, ’ ’ she said. ‘ ‘ The world is 
too large! If I were only back on the table 
underneath the mirror! I shall never be 
happy until I am there again. Now I have fol¬ 
lowed you out into the wide world, if you really 
love me, you will take me home again, ” 


MERRY HOME STORIES 


49 


The Chimney-Sweeper spoke sensibly to her 
—spoke of the terrible old Chinaman, and 
of the Billy-goat-legs-Lieutenant-and-Major- 
General-War-Commander-Sergeant. But the 
little Shepherdess only sobbed more bitterly. 
So the Chimney-Sweeper could not help but 
give way to her. 

With great danger, they climbed down the 
chimney again. And they crept back through 
the pipe and the fire box. That was not pleas¬ 
ant at all. And there they stood in the dark 
stove; there they listened to hear what was go¬ 
ing on in the room. 

It seemed very quiet, so, at last, they looked 
in. There lay the old Chinaman in the middle 
of the fioor! He had fallen down from the 
table as he was pursuing them, and there he 
lay, broken in three pieces. His back had 
come off all in one piece, and his head had 
rolled way off into a corner. The Billy-goat- 
legs - Lieutenant - and - Major - General - War- 
Commander-Sergeant stood where he had al¬ 
ways stood, thinking. 

‘‘This is sad!’’ said the little Shepherdess. 
“The old grandfather has fallen to pieces, and 
it is all our fault,” and she wrung her little 
china hands. 

“He can be mended,” said the Chimney- 


50 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

Sweeper. ‘ ‘ If they glue his back and give him 
a good rivet in his neck, he will be as strong as 
ever, and may say many a disagreeable thing to 
us yet.’’ So they climbed back upon the table 
where they used to stand. 

The old Chinaman was really riveted. The 
family had his back glued, and a large rivet 
was passed through his neck. He was as good 
as new, only that he was never able to nod 
again. So the porcelain people remained to¬ 
gether, and they blessed the Chinaman’s rivet, 
and they loved each other until they broke. 



THE STORY OP PETER RABBIT 

O NCE upon a time there were four little 
rabbits, and their names were: 

Flopsy 
Mopsy 
Cotton-Tail 
and Peter. 

They lived with their mother in a sand-bank, 
underneath the root of a very big fir-tree. 

^^Now, my dears,’’ said old Mrs. Rabbit one 
morning, ‘‘you may go into the fields or down 
the lane, but don’t go into Mr. McGregor’s 
garden. Your father had an accident there; 
he was put in a pie by Mrs. McGregor. 

“Now run along, and don’t get into mischief. 
I am going out. ” 

Then old Mrs. Rabbit took a basket and her 
umbrella, and went through the wood to the 
baker’s. She bought a loaf of brown bread 
and five currant buns. 

Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-Tail, who were 

51 


52 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

good little bunnies, went down the lane to 
gather blackberries. 

But Peter, who was very naughty, ran 
straight away to Mr. McGregor’s garden, and 
squeezed under the gate. 

First he ate some lettuces and some French 
beans; and then he ate some radishes; and then, 
feeling rather sick, he went to look for some 
parsley. 

But round the end of a cucumber frame, 
whom should he meet but Mr. McGregor! 

Mr. McGregor was on his hands and knees 
planting out some, young cabbages, but he 
jumped up and ran after Peter, waving a rake, 
and calling out, ‘^Stop, thief!” 

Peter was most dreadfully frightened. He 
rushed all over the garden for he had forgotten 
the way back to the gate. 

He lost one of his shoes among the cabbages, 
and the other among the potatoes. 

After losing them he ran on four legs and 
went faster, and I think he might have got 
away altogether if he had not unfortunately 
run into a gooseberry net, and got caught by 
the large buttons on his jacket. It was a blue 
jacket with brass buttons, quite new. 

Peter gave himself up for lost, and shed big 
tears; but his sobs were overheard by some 


MERRY ANIMAL STORIES 


53 


friendly sparrows who flew to him in great ex¬ 
citement, and implored him to exert himself. 

Mr. McGregor came up with a sieve, which 
he intended to pop upon the top of Peter; but 
Peter wriggled out just in time, leaving his 
jacket behind him— 

And rushed into the tool-shed and jumped 
into a can. It would have been a beautiful 
thing to hide in, if it had not had so much 
water in it. 

Mr. McGregor was quite sure that Peter was 
somewhere in the tool-shed, perhaps hidden 
underneath a flower-pot. He began to turn 
them over carefully, looking under each. 

Presently Peter sneezed—‘ ‘ Kerty-shoo! ’ ’ 
Mr. McGregor was after him in no time, and 
tried to put his foot on Peter, who jumped out 
of a window, upsetting three plants. The 
window was too small for Mr. McGregor, and 
he was tired of running after Peter. He went 
back to his work. 

Peter sat down to rest. He was out of 
breath and trembling with fright, and he had 
not the least idea which way to go. Also he 
was very damp with sitting in that can. 

After a time he began to wander about, go¬ 
ing lippity-lippity—not very fast, and looking 
all around. 


54 


MEERY TALES FOR CHILDREN 


He found a door in the wall, but it was 
locked, and there was no room for a fat little 
rabbit to squeeze underneath. 

An old mouse was running in and out over 
the stone doorstep, carrying peas and beans to 
her family in the wood. Peter asked her the 
way to the gate, but she had such a large pea 
in her mouth that she could not answer. She 
only shook her head. Peter began to cry. 

Then he tried to find his way straight across 
the garden but he became more and more puz¬ 
zled. Presently he came to a pond where Mr. 
McGregor filled his water cans. 

A white cat was staring at some gold-fish. 
She sat very, very still but now and then the 
tip of her tail twitched as if it were alive. 
Peter thought it best to go away without speak¬ 
ing to her; he had heard about cats from his 
cousin, little Benjamin Bunny. 

He went back towards the tool-shed, but sud¬ 
denly, quite close to him, he heard the noise 
of a hoe—scr-r-ritch—scratch, scratch, scritch. 
Peter scuttered underneath the bushes. But 
presently, as nothing happened, he came out, 
and climbed upon a wheel-barrow, and peeped 
over. The first thing he saw was Mr. Mc¬ 
Gregor hoeing onions. His back was turned 
toward Peter and beyond him was the gate! 


MERRY ANIMAL STORIES 


55 


Peter got down very quietly off the wheel¬ 
barrow, and started running as fast as he could 
go, along a straight walk between some black 
currant bushes. 

Mr. McGregor caught sight of him at the 
corner, but Peter did not care. He slipped 
underneath the gate, and was safe at last in the 
wood outside the garden. 

Mr. McGregor hung up the little jacket and 
the shoes for a scare-crow to frighten the 
blackbirds. 

Peter never stopped running or looked be¬ 
hind him until he got home to the big fir-tree. 

He was so tired that he flopped right down 
upon the nice soft sand on the floor of the rab¬ 
bit-hole, and shut his eyes. 

His mother was busy cooking; she wondered 
what he had done with his clothes. It was the 
second little jacket and pair of shoes that Peter 
had lost in a fortnight! 

I am sorry to say that Peter was not very 
well during the evening. 

His mother put him to bed, and made some 
camomile tea; and she gave a dose of it to 
Peter! 

‘‘One tablespoonful to be taken at bedtime.’’ 

But Plopsy, Mopsy and Cotton-Tail had 
bread and milk and blackberries for supper. 


HOW MISTER RABBIT GOT A GOOD 
DINNER 


B rer rabbit he was settin’ in his do’ 
wid his chin in his hands, he was. His 
eyes shet tight, he swingin’ hisse’f in de do’- 
way singin’; ^‘All de time scratchin’ and a 
pickin’! And I can’t’s much’s git er piece er 
fried chicken.” He keep up a-sighin’; he 
keep up a cryin’. He sing: 

^‘Plenty er ’bacca, plenty er greens. 

Plenty er pickin’ of new scrap-beans! 

But all time stealin’, all time pickin’, 
Nairy a wing-bit er fried chicken!” 

Des den Brer Rabbit he hear down de road: 
Trot! Trot! Trot! ’Twas de Preacher-Man. 

Oh, yes, ev’y sorter somebody got to have dey 
preacher. Crow, he preaches for de birds. 
Dat what de ol’ folks useter tell me. 

Preacher-Man he have on a high hat, so high! 
He have on a long coat, so long! He ride on a 
po’ horse, so po’! 

‘‘Mornin’, Brer Rabbit,” says he. 

56 


MERRY ANIMAL STORIES 


57 


‘‘Mornin’, morninV’ says Brer Babbit, says 
he. ‘‘Whar be you goin’ today r’ 

‘‘I was des gwine down to Sis Susan’s 
house,” says de Preacher-Man, ‘Ooeing of a sort 
of a Port’ Sunday, she’ll be lookin’ for me, and 
mo’n dat she do get up de bes’ fried chicken 
dinner as ever was.” 

Dat des do make Brer Rabbit’s mouf water, 
look mos’ like Mister Preacher-Man mought 
a-knowed what he was studyin’ ’bout. He say 
to hisse’f: 

^^Dat’s de way de world go ’round, 

Dat’s de way de world go ’round. 

All fer dat preacher! 

None fer dis creature!” 

Den he say sorter solemn: 

^Hs you heard, is you got de word 
From dar since you las’ heard*?” 

^‘Not since las’ Fort’,” says de Preacher- 
Man, lookin’ sorter skeered like. 

‘Ms you heard from de chillen?” 

‘^Not edzactly, no-no-o-o-o,” says de 
Preacher-Man. 

‘‘Den you ain’t heard, is you, dat her chillen 
is tuck wid hilarious chills, and she done down 


58 


MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 


wid a terrifus fever, and de servants tuck wid 
de mumps, and—” 

Preacher-Man, he ’gun to look mighty 
solemn. 

‘^Ohol” says Brer Eabbit. Bar’s lots er 
news in dis neighborhood. I is learn dat Miss 
Susan is done sont her las’ chicken er de fryin’ 
size up to Mister Snake’s funeral, des ten miles 
up de road. I hear dey gwine ter give him a 
great funeral, long as dey was so shy er him, 
when he was livin’. Dey gwine to have big 
doin’s up dar. I wish ter gracious I could be 
dar, but dey all keep de ’membrance dat me’n 
him wan’t speakin’ when he was tuck off so 
sudden—no mo’ was dey—and dey won’t give 
me no invite. But I heard em say dat dey do 
wisht dat de Preacher-Man could be dar.” 

All dat time Brer Rabbit talkin’, de 
Preacher-Man he studyin’. D’rectly he say: 
‘‘A man ’bleeged to go whar he needed mos’.” 

Rabbit, he laugh behime his hand and say 
easy: 


‘‘Whar de bes’ eatin’ is, 

Dar de bes’ needin’ is.” 

Preacher-Man he set his po’ horse in de 
road ag’in and start fer where Brer Rabbit 
says Mister Snake’s funeral is gwine to be. 


MERRY ANIMAL STORIES 


59 


Den Brer Babbit he jumped out de do’, he 
do; he clap his heels together, and he lit out fer 
de spring-branch. 

When he git dar, he ’gin to dabble in de wet 
clay. He pat, and he work wid hit and 
d’rectly he make hisse’f a tall hat outer dat 
clay, same like de Preacher-Man’s hat. Den 
he put hit on his head, way down over his 
years! 

Brer Babbit he do laugh. 

He laugh and he work, and he work and he 
laugh, and he make outer some clay a long coat, 
same like what de Preacher-Man wo’. 

Brer Babbit he laugh. 

Den Brer Babbit he make hisse’f a pair er 
saddle-bags outer dat clay. 

Den Brer Babbit he do laugh. 

Den he stop laughin’, he do, and he say: 

‘‘Whoever seed a preacher walkin’ down de 
road ? 

A hoss he gotter have, ef hit’s thin as a 
boa’d!” 

So Brer Babbit he take up a stick, he do, and 
he kiwer hit wid dat wet clay, twel hit look like 
a rale, sho ’nough po’ hoss. 

Brer Babbit he do laugh den! 

Brer Babbit he git on de hoss, fling on de 


60 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

saddle-bags. Dot boss won’t go. He whip dat 
boss. Hoss won’t go. Brer Rabbit he won’t 
be out-done. He set bis foots on de groun ’ and 
off he go boldin’ to de bridle rein and jumpin’ 
high—clippity, down de road to Miss Susan’s 
he go. When be git nigh Miss Susan’s, all de 
cbillen run tell dey ma: “Mister Preacher- 
Man cornin’ and cornin’ mo swift dan he ever 
come befo’.” 

Brer Rabbit, he make like he tie his hoss 
’ginst de hitchin’ rack, and den he bol’ly walk 
in. 

Miss Susan, she say: “Mornin’, mornin’. 
Walk right in!” 

Dat what Brer Rabbit do. 

Miss Susan she say: “Take off yer hat. 
Brer Preacher-Man.” 

But dat what Brer Rabbit don’t ’low to do. 

“Hem! Hem! Sister,” says he, “sense 
me, but er misery in de jaw won’t lemme take 
off dis hat.” 

“Course, course,” says Miss Susan. Den 
she say: “Brer Preacher-Man, lemme take 
off dis heavy coat.” 

Dat skeer Brer Rabbit ag’in, but he say: 
“Hem! Hem! Sister, a misery in de shoul¬ 
der blade make me keep on dis coat.” 

Miss Susan, she say: “Course, course.” 


MERRY ANIMAL STORIES 


61 


Brer Babbit he hear chickens squalin’ in de 
back-yard and hot lard spittin’ on de kitchen 
fire, so he draw his hat far’r over his years and 
says: ‘‘Hem! Hem!’’ 

De chillen dey gigglin’ and pullin’ on dey 
ma’s dress. Dey done on close range spy out 
who Brer Babbit is. Dey say: “Ma! Ma! 
Dat ain’t no Preacher-Man, des Brer Babbit!” 

Brer Babbit, he say: “What dem good li’l 
chillens say*?” 

Miss Susan, she say: “Dey des talkin’ 
foolishness like chillen does do. Dey say you 
ain’t no Preacher-Man, des Brer Babbit, de 
which ev’y-body, nigh or furder, know dat 
Brer Babbit is de very worst man in all dis 
country round.” 

“Hem! Hem!” says he. “I des now pass 
Brer Babbit settin’ in his do’ lookin’ mighty 
good and gloomiful.” 

“Time he lookin’ gloomiful, ef he ain’t 
good,” says Miss Susan, ” ’caze he been ca’yin’ 
on scanjulous.” Den she lit in to ’buse Brer 
Babbit. She ’fuse to say a good word fer him. 

Brer Babbit he egg her on to say much and 
mo ’. He heah dat day all de devilment he ever 
done in dat settlement and mo’ too. 

Miss Susan she done set one ’oman ter wring 
chicken’s necks, ’nother ter pick ’em, ’nother 


62 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

cook ’oman ter fry ’em. De dishes began ter 
come in hot and fast. OP Brer Rabbit he eat 
much an’ mo’ dan ten Preacher-men can eat. 

Whilst he eatin’ Miss Susan she keep a’talk¬ 
in’ ’bout Brer Rabbit’s meanness, she do. 

Brer Rabbit, he say solemn-like: “I gwine 
keep membrance of all dis you tell me ’bout 
Brer Rabbit! I ain’t gwine fergit one word 
all dis you tollin’ me.” Brer Rabbit, in de 
mean time, done sop every dish dry, and he 
might er even got off unbeknownst to Miss 
Susan, but she done sont de chillen out to water 
de Preacher-Man’s boss. Chillen hoi’ de 
water to dat po’ boss’ nose. 

Nose melt off! 

De chillen set up a gigglement, and keep on 
waterin’ de boss twel he do all melt—’cept de 
stick de clay be daubed on. Den dey run inter 
de table des gigglin’ and hollerin’, ^‘Yo’ boss 
done melt to mud!” 

Brer Rabbit he don’t know what to do; he 
des keel over like he done faint off. 

Den dem chillen dey holler: ‘‘He done fall 
a-faintin ’. Po ’ water on him! ’ ’ And den dey 
fetch water faster dan dey ever done befo’. 
Dey des bodaciously drench Brer Rabbit. 

Dar! His tall hat fell off. 

Tas! His long coat melt off. 


MERRY ANIMAL STORIES 63 

So! His big boots go. 

Ho! His great gloves slip off. 

Sho! Nobody t’ all but 01’ Brer Rabbit! 

Miss Susan she so ’stonish, she des hang her 
mouf open; can’t speak a mumblin’ word. 

Brer Rabbit he lit out, he did. He holler 
back as he go: gwine keep de ’membrance 

of all dat you tole me ’bout Brer Rabbit. I 
sho is!” 


THE DYEING OF MR. RABBIT 


O LE MISS RABBIT she a kinder anxious 
somebody. She done see so much 
trouble. Her eyes done got nigh ’bout pop 
outer her head watchin’ fer to see whicher way 
and how Mr. Rabbit is cornin’ home. 

His eyes nigh ’bout popped outer his head 
peepin’ out fer to see whicher way and how 
is de safes’ way fer him to get home. Yit Mr. 
Rabbit he do keep steady at his tricks. 

One day Miss Rabbit, she at de well doin’ de 
week’s washin’, de chillen all off huntin’ 
pa’tidge eggs, Mr. Rabbit he come home. 
’Twa’n’t nobody in de house. He take up de 
drinkin’ gourd. Miss Rabbit she des done 
burnt out de mouf hole in de handle of a new 
green gourd, and done scrape and holler and 
scrape it out to make a new drinkin’ gourd fer 
de fambly fer de nex’ year. 

Mr. Rabbit he take dat gourd in de shed 
room, and he shet de do’, he do. He pull up de 
chist ’ginst de do’ and fasten it close. Den he 
tuck out his pocket knife and set to cuttin’ up 

64 


MERRY ANIMAL STORIES 


65 


dat new gourd. He ’low to cut and carve his- 
self a new set er teef, ’caze he been missin’ teef 
ever since he knocked out mos’ de teefes dat he 
had in his head at Miss Susan’s cake-walk. 

’Bout time he git thoo makin’ dem teefes and 
settin em in his mouf, Miss Rabbit she come in 
de front room do’. She stir up de coals and 
de chunks in de fire place, and she put on a new 
back log. She put a bit er bacon on de meat 
hook over de fire, and she set de skillet on de 
coals to git het up. She po’ de clabber out de 
jar in de churn, and she turn ’round and ’round 
to look fer de gourd fer ter dip water fer to 
rinse off de churn dasher. 

Mr. Rabbit he no sooner got dem gourd teef 
set in his mouf dan he spy Miss Rabbit’s dye- 
pot whar she dips de hanks er yarn in. De 
dye-pot settin’ out on de shed room winder 
shelf. Dat make him take a notion what 
makes him laugh. Lawsy-massy-me! His 
mouf is so full now er teefes dat when he laugh 
he sound like somebody chatterin’ and chokin’. 

Miss Rabbit she stop lookin’ fer de gourd 
fer to rinse her churn dasher. She stop and 
listen. 

Mr. Rabbit he dip de rag in de dye-pot and 
he laugh agin. 

Miss Rabbit she sho some er de chillen in de 


66 


MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 


shed-room and done drown in de wash-tub, or 
done catch a-fire and clean burnt up. She 
drap de dasher and run to de shed-room do’. 

De do’won’t open. 

Ole Mr. Rabbit he rubbin’ de mop on his 
whiskers, yit laughin’ ’bout how he gwine fool 
de folks at de next settlement. ^‘He-he! He- 
he! ” His whiskers ain’t grey now. He move 
de dye-mop dis way and dat. 

Miss Rabbit she shake and she shake, she 
beat and she beat at dat do’. 

Mr. Rabbit he des now hear her at de do’. 
He say deep down in his th’oat, bes’ he can talk 
wid his mouf so full of dem gourd teefes, ‘‘Go 
way f um dat do ’! ” 

Miss Rabbit she ’low, “You dar, ole man? 
Gracious me, ole man, what you doin’ in dar ?” 

Mr. Rabbit, he ’low, “Go way fum dat do’. 
I’mdyein’!” 

Miss Rabbit she shove and she push worser, 
yit she can’t budge dat do’. Den she run hol¬ 
lerin’ out de house to git up de chillen and 
’larm de plantation. She holler up de ol’es’ 
boy, and sont him atter de Snake-Doctor. She 
call up de nex’ ol’es’ boy, and sont him atter de 
Preacher Crow. She sont de nex’, and de nex’ 
fer ter give de ansah to de feller servants to 
’larm all de plantation ’round. She tell ’em 


MERRY ANIMAL STORIES 


67 


don’t spare dey breaf and dey wind, caze dey 
daddy say he dyin’. 

No sooner dan Miss Rabbit gone ter git up 
de chillen, dan Mr. Rabbit done got all fixed 
up to suit hisself. Den out de shed-room win¬ 
der he lipt and he lopt down de cross-cut path 
to de nex’ settlement. 

Time de chillen, de neighbors, de preacher, 
de whole plantation git ter de house Miss Rab¬ 
bit she set up sech an ’larm as never was, ’bout 
her ole man say he dyin’. 

Woodpecker, he out de side er de house: 

‘‘Tap, tap! 

Rap, rap!” 

Woodpecker drivin’ coffin nails. 

In dash de Snake-Doctor. 

Miss Rabbit twix’ hollerin’ and cryin’ tell 
him Mr. Rabbit he done tole her thoo de do’ dat 
he dyin’. She spec’ now he gwine say he dead. 
She say when he tell her he dyin’ his teefes 
dey’s chatterin’ in his head den. 

Snake-Doctor say dat a mighty bad sign, 
’caze when is anybody heard Mr. Rabbit’s 
teefes chatterin’ befo’? Den he say, “Whar 
he?” 

Miss Rabbit she p’int to de shed-room do’, 
and she ’low, “Dar he.” 


68 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

Snake-Doctor, he low, ‘‘Somebody bust open 
de do’/’ 

Des as de whole plantation was ’bout to turn 
loose and bust de shed-room do’ down, Mr. Fox 
came ramblin’ ’long. 

He ’low, “Hi, what y’all want to bust dat do’ 
down fer ?” 

De folks and critters ’low, “ ’Gaze Brer Rab¬ 
bit in dar. He done say he dyin’. Spec 
d’rectly he gwine say he dead.” 

Mr. Fox clap his leg, double up and laugh 
and laugh, he do. He ’low “Ef y’all honin’ 
atter seein’ Brer Rabbit, des go ’crost to de 
nex’ settlement. Brer Rabbit dar wid his 
whiskers dyed bodacious red wid poke-berry 
juice dye, and new gourd teefes in his mouf. 
Him pickin’ de banjo and jokin’ ’mongst de 
gals.” 

Dat sort er broke up de funeral. 


PIG AND PEPPER 

F or a minute or two Alice stood looking at 
the little house, and wondering, when sud¬ 
denly a footman in livery came running out of 
the wood—(she considered him a footman be¬ 
cause he was in livery; otherwise, judging by 
his face, she would have called him a fish)— 
and rapped loudly at the door with his 
knuckles. It was opened by another footman 
in livery with a round face and eyes like a 
frog; and both footmen, Alice noticed, had 
powdered hair that curled all over their heads. 
She felt very curious to know what it was all 
about, and crept a little way out of the wood to 
Listen. 

The Pish-Pootman began by producing from 
under his arm a great letter, nearly as large as 
himself, and this he handed over to the other, 
saying, in a solemn tone, ‘‘Por the Duchess.’’ 
The Prog-Pootman repeated this. Then they 
both bowed low, and their curls got entangled 
together. 

Alice laughed so much at this that she had to 

69 


70 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

run back into the wood for fear of their hear¬ 
ing her; and when next she peeped out, the 
Fish-Footman was gone, and the other was 
sitting on the ground by the door, staring 
stupidly up into the sky. 

Alice went timidly up to the door and 
knocked. 

uThere’s no sort of use in knocking,” said 
the Footman, “and that for two reasons. 
First, because I’m on the same side of the door 
as you are; secondly, because they’re making 
such a noise inside no one could possibly hear 
you.” And certainly there was a most ex¬ 
traordinary noise going on within—a constant 
howling and sneezing, and every now and then 
a crash, as if a dish or kettle had been broken 
to pieces. 

“Please, then,” said Alice, “how am I to get 
in?” 

“There might be some sense in your knock¬ 
ing,” the Footman went on, without attending 
to her, “if we had the inside of the door be¬ 
tween us. For instance, if you were inside, 
you might knock, and I could let you out, you 
see.” He was looking up at the sky all the 
time he was speaking, and this Alice thought 
decidedly uncivil. ‘ ‘ But perhaps he can’t help 
it,” she said to herself, “his eyes are so very 



MERRY ANIMAL STORIES 


71 


nearly at the top of his head. But at any rate, 
he might answer questions. How am I to get 
in?’’ she repeated aloud. 

^‘1 shall sit here,” the Footman remarked, 
‘‘till tomorrow—” 

At this moment the door of the house opened, 
and a large plate came skimming out straight 
at the Footman’s head. It Just grazed his 
nose, and broke to pieces against one of the 
trees behind him. 

“—or next day, maybe,” the Footman went 
on in the same tone, exactly as if nothing had 
happened. 

“How am I to get in?” Alice asked again, in 
a louder tone. 

“Are you to get in at all ?” said the Footman. 
“That’s the first question, you know.” 

It was, no doubt, only Alice did not like to 
be told so, and the Footman seemed to think 
that this was a good opportunity for repeating 
his remark. “I shall sit here,” he said, “on 
and off, for days and days.” 

“But what am I to do?” said Alice. 

“Anything you like,” said the Footman, and 
began whistling. 

“Oh, there’s no use in talking to him,” said 
Alice desperately, “he’s perfectly idiotic,” 
and she opened the door and went in. 


72 


MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 


The door led right into a large kitchen, 
which was full of smoke from one end to the 
other. The Duchess was sitting on a three- 
legged stool in the middle, nursing a baby. 
The cook was leaning over the fire, stirring a 
large cauldron which seemed to be full of soup. 

uThere’s certainly too much pepper in that 
soup,” Alice said to herself, as well as she could 
for sneezing. 

There was certainly too much of it in the 
air. Even the Duchess sneezed occasionally, 
and as for the haby, it was sneezing and howl¬ 
ing alternately without a moment’s pause. 
The only two creatures in the room who did not 
sneeze were the cook and a large cat which was 
lying on the hearth, and grinning from ear to 
ear. 

Please, would you tell me,” said Alice, a 
little timidly, for she was not quite sure 
whether it was good manners for her to speak 
first, ‘^why your cat grins like that?” 

‘'It’s a Cheshire-Cat,” said the Duchess, 
‘ ‘ and that’s why. Pig! ’ ’ 

She said the last word with such sudden vio¬ 
lence that Alice jumped; but she saw in an¬ 
other moment that it was addressed to the baby 
and not to her, so she took courage, and went 
on again:— 


MERRY ANIMAL STORIES 


73 


‘‘I didn’t know that Cheshire cats always 
grinned. In fact, I didn’t know that cats 
could grin.” 

“They all can,” said the Duchess, “and most 
of ’em do.” 

“I don’t know of any that do,” Alice said 
very politely, feeling quite pleased to have got 
into the conversation. 

“You don’t know much,” said the Duchess, 
“and that’s a fact.” 

Alice did not at all like the tone of this re¬ 
mark, and thought it would be well to try to 
introduce some other topic. While she was 
trying to fix on one, the cook took the cauldron 
of soup off the stove and at once set to work 
throwing everything within reach at the 
Duchess and the baby—the fire-irons came 
first. Then followed a shower of saucepans, 
plates, and dishes. The Duchess took no notice 
of them, even when they hit her; and the baby 
was howling so much already that it was quite 
impossible to say whether the blows hurt it or 
not. 

“Oh, please, mind what you are doing!” 
cried Alice, jumping up and down in an agony 
of terror. ‘ ‘ Oh, there goes his precious nose! ’ ’ 
as an unusually large saucepan fiew close by it 
and very nearly carried it off. 


74 


MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 


everybody minded their own business,” 
the Duchess said in a hoarse growl, ‘Hhe world 
would go round a great deal faster than it 
does.” 

‘‘Which would not be an advantage,” said 
Alice, who felt very glad of an opportunity to 
show off her knowledge. “Just think what 
work it would make with the day and night! 
You see the earth takes twenty-four hours to 
turn round on its axis—” 

“Speaking of axes,” said the Duchess, “chop 
off her head!” 

Alice glanced rather anxiously at the cook 
to see if she meant to take the hint. But the 
cook was busily stirring the soup and seemed 
not to be listening, so she went on again, 
“Twenty-four hours, I think, or is it twelve? 
I—” 

“Oh, don’t bother me,” said the Duchess, “I 
never could abide figures! ’ ’ And with that she 
began nursing her child again, singing a sort 
of lullaby to it as she did so, and giving it a 
violent shake at the end of every line: 

“Speak roughly to your little boy, 

And beat him when he sneezes; 

He only does it to annoy. 

Because he knows it teazes.” 


MERRY ANIMAL STORIES 


75 


Chorus 

(in which the cook and the baby joined) 
‘^Wow, wow, wow!’’ 

While the Duchess sang the second verse of 
the song, she kept tossing the baby violently up 
and down, and the poor little thing howled so, 
that Alice could hardly hear the words: 

speak severely to my boy, 

I beat him when he sneezes. 

For he can thoroughly enjoy 
The pepper when he pleases!” 

Chorus 

Wow, wow, wow!” 

^^Here! You may nurse him a bit, if you 
like,” the Duchess said to Alice, flinging the 
baby at her as she spoke, and she hurried out 
of the room. The cook threw a frying pan 
after her as she went, but it just missed her. 

Alice caught the baby with some difficulty, 
as it was a queer shaped little creature, and 
held its legs and arms out in all directions 
‘‘just like a star-flsh,” thought Alice. The 
poor little thing was snorting like a steam-en¬ 
gine when she caught it, and kept doubling 
itself up and straightening itself out again, so 
that altogether, for the first minute or two, it 


76 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

was as much as she could do to hold it. 

As soon as she had made out the proper way 
(which was to twist it up into a sort of knot, 
and then keep tight hold of its right ear and 
left foot, so as to prevent its undoing itself) 
she carried it out into the open air. ‘‘If I 
don’t take this child away with me,” thought 
Alice, “they’ll surely kill it in a day or two.” 
She said the last words out loud, and the little 
thing grunted in reply—it had left off sneez¬ 
ing by this time. 

“Don’t grunt,” said Alice, “that’s not at all 
the proper way of expressing yourself.” 

The baby grunted again, and Alice looked 
very anxiously into its face to see what was the 
matter with it. There could be no doubt that 
it had a very turn-up nose; also its eyes were 
getting extremely small for a baby. Alto¬ 
gether, Alice did not like the look of the thing 
at all. “But perhaps it was only sobbing,” 
she thought, and looked into its eyes again to 
see if there were any tears. 

No, there were no tears. “If you’re going to 
turn into a pig, my dear,” said Alice seriously, 
“I’ll have nothing more to do with you. Mind 
that now!” the poor little thing sobbed again, 
or grunted, it was impossible to tell which, and 
they went on for some time in silence. 


MERRY ANIMAL STORIES 


77 


Alice was just beginning to think to herself, 
^‘Now what am I to do with this creature when 
I get home7^’ when it grunted again, so vio¬ 
lently, that she looked down into its face in 
some alarm. This time there could be no mis¬ 
take about it; it was nothing more nor less than 
a pig, and she felt that it would be quite ab¬ 
surd for her to carry it any farther. 

So she set the little creature down, and felt 
quite relieved to see it trot away quietly into 
the wood. ^‘If it had grown up,” she said to 
herself, ‘4t would have made a dreadfully ugly 
child, but it makes quite a handsome pig, I 
think.” And she began thinking over other 
children she knew, who might do very well as 
pigs, and was just saying to herself ‘4f one 
only knew the right way to change them—” 
when she was a little startled by seeing the 
Cheshire-Cat sitting on a bough of a tree a few 
yards off. 

The Cat only grinned when it saw Alice. It 
looked good-natured, she thought; still it 
had very long claws and a great many teeth, 
so she felt that it ought to be treated with 
respect. 

‘ ^ Cheshire-Puss, ” she began rather timidly, 
^ AVould you tell me, please, which way I ought 
to go from here'?” 


78 


MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 


^^That depends a good deal on where you 
want to get to/’ said the Cat. 

don’t much care where—” said Alice. 

‘‘Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” 
said the Cat. 

“—so long as I get somewhere,” Alice ex¬ 
plained. 

“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, 
“if only you walk long enough.” 

Alice felt that this could not he denied, so 
she tried another question. “What sort of 
people live about here ’ ’ 

“In that direction,” said the Cat, waving its 
right paw around, “lives a Hatter; and in that 
direction,” waving the other paw, “lives a 
March Hare. Visit either you like. They’re 
both mad.” 

‘ ‘ But I don’t want to go among mad people, ’ ’ 
Alice remarked. 

“Oh, you can’t help that,” said the Cat, 
“we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re 
mad.” 

“How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice. 

“You must be,” said the Cat, “or you 
wouldn’t have come here.” 

Alice didn’t think that proved it at all; how¬ 
ever, she went on, “And how do you know that 
you are mad?” 


MERRY ANIMAL STORIES 


79 


begin with,” said the Cat, ‘‘a dog’s not 
mad. Yon grant that ? ’ ’ 

‘‘I suppose so,” said AJice. 

^‘Well, then,” the Cat went on, ‘^you see a 
dog growls when it’s angry, and wags its tail 
when it’s pleased. Now I growl when I’m 
pleased and wag my tail when I’m angry. 
Therefore, I’m mad. ’ ’ 

‘‘I call it purring, not growling,” said Alice. 

^‘Call it what you hike,” said the Cat and 
vanished. 

Alice was not much surprised at this. She 
was so used to queer things happening. While 
she was still looking at the place where it had 
been, it suddenly appeared again. 

“By-the-by, what became of the baby*?” said 
the Cat, ‘‘I’d nearly forgotten to ask.” 

“It turned into a pig,” Alice answered 
quietly, just as if the Cat had come back in a 
natural way. 

“I thought it would,” said the Cat and van¬ 
ished again. 

Alice waited a little, half expecting to see it 
again but it did not appear, and after a minute 
or two she walked on in the direction in which 
the March Hare was said to live. “I’ve seen 
hatters before,” she said to herself, “the 
March Hare will be much the more interesting, 


80 


MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 


and perhaps, as this is May, it won’t be raving- 
mad—” As she said this, she looked up, and 
there was the Cat again, sitting on a branch of 
a tree. 

^^Did you say ‘pig’ or ‘fig’?” asked the Cat. 

“I said ‘pig’, ” replied Alice,” and I wish ^ 
you wouldn’t keep appearing and vanishing 
so suddenly; you make one quite giddy.” 

“All right,” said the Cat, and this time it 
vanished quite slowly, beginning with the tail, 
and ending with the grin, which remained 
some time after the rest of it had gone. 

“Well, I’ve often seen a cat without a 
grin!” thought Alice, as she went on toward 
the house of the March Hare, “but a grin with¬ 
out a cat! It’s the most curious thing I ever 
saw in my life!” 


GRANDFATHER’S PRIZE PIG 


O NCE upon a time, when Grandfather was 
a little boy named John and lived in a 
red farmhouse at the end of a country road, 
there was going to be a fair. 

A country fair in those long ago days was 
almost as much fun for boys and girls as a cir¬ 
cus. It was held in the Pair Grounds, a big, 
round, green place farther on than John’s 
house. There were always white tents where 
the largest potatoes and pumpkins and 
squashes and cabbage raised on the neighbor¬ 
ing farms were shown. There were frosted 
cakes, and thick pies, and crisp loaves of bread, 
and red and green patchwork quilts in morning 
star pattern, and bunches of asters and dahlias 
exhibited also in the tents. 

For days the farmers drove their buggies 
past John’s house, and the hired men took the 
best sheep and cattle to the Fair Grounds. 
There was a brass band from the village to 
play there every afternoon and evening. 

There was apt to be a penny peep show for the 
81 


82 


MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 


children, and there was sure to be a ginger¬ 
bread and lemonade stand. 

The judges sat on a platform that had been 
specially built for them in the Fair Grounds 
and judged the exhibits and gave out the prizes. 
The fair was almost as important and pleasant 
as Christmas or the Fourth of July. 

Grandfather had a pet pig when he was a 
little boy, and it was named Henry for the boy 
who had given it to him. Henry seemed just 
like any other pig when he was little, but John 
took very good care of him and he grew up to 
be an unusually fine one. John washed Henry 
to keep him pink, and he fed him apples, and 
mush, and ground-nuts until Henry grew so 
fat as to surprise even the farmers nearby. 

^‘That is a very fine pig of yours, John,’’ 
Great-grandfather, who was Grandfather’s 
father, said one day as he looked into Henry’s 
pen. ^^He is fat enough to be entered for a 
prize at the fair. Why don’t you take him 
over"?” 

‘ ‘ Well, I think I will, ’ ’ John said. And that 
is how It happened that Henry started to go 
to the Fair Grounds. 

The fair was always held in the late summer 
when it was warm. John’s mother, who was 
Great-grandmother, washed and ironed his 


MERKY ANIMAL STORIES 


83 


brown linen snit, for it was a long road to the 
fair. She put a new red band on his last year’s 
straw hat, and John tied a blue ribbon around 
Henry’s neck. Then the two, John and 
Henry, started out about ten o’clock one morn¬ 
ing. 

Henry had never been away from the farm 
and he seemed to like the idea of the trip at 
first. He grunted as he trotted along in front 
of John, and John thought that they would 
get to the Fair Grounds long before noon. 

But after they had gone about an eighth of a 
mile, Henry sat down in the road and wouldn’t 
get up. He was warm, and he had decided 
not to go any farther. 

John tried to lift Henry up and carry him, 
but he was too heavy. Then he cut a willow 
switch and switched Henry a little. Henry 
got up and went on a short ways and then he 
sat down again. John switched, and pushed, 
and tugged the pig, but Henry would not be 
driven. He would go a few steps and then he 
would sit down again. John was almost ready 
to cry, and he was so warm himself that the 
red came out of his hat band and ran down 
over his face in streaks. 

Suddenly he saw a cloud of dust in the road. 
It came nearer, and he saw that it was raised 


84 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

by the buggy from the railway station. It 
stopped beside him, and out stepped his Aunt 
Jane with her carpet bag. She had come to 
visit Great-grandmother for the last days of 
the fair. 

^‘You needn’t drive me any farther,” Aunt 
Jane said to the driver. ‘‘Here is John. He 
can carry my bag and I will walk the rest of 
the way.” 

John looked at the heavy bag and then at 
Henry sitting there in the road. He was a 
polite boy, but he didn’t know what to do. “I 
was taking my pig to the fair. Aunt Jane,” he 
said. 

“Well, he doesn’t seem to be going very 
fast,’’ Aunt Jane said. “You had better drive 
him home again, Johnny.” 

John tried to keep back his tears. He took 
his Aunt Jane’s bag in one hand and with the 
other he tried to make Henry stand up and 
start home. But Henry had made up his mind 
that he was not going to be driven in that di¬ 
rection either. He would not move an inch. 
So John took Aunt Jane and the bag back to 
his home, and left Henry there in the road un¬ 
til he could drive down for him with the wagon. 

But there were a great many things to do, 
for Great-grandmother had not expected Aunt 


MERRY ANIMAL STORIES 


85 


Jane so soon. John had to hunt for eggs, and 
pick currants, and help with the churning. It 
was not until afternoon that he could go for 
Henry, and when he came to the place where 
he had left him Henry was gone! 

John felt very badly indeed. He was too 
much ashamed to tell any one what had hap¬ 
pened to his pig. He always fed Henry him¬ 
self, so no one missed him from his pen, but 
when John went to look at the empty pen, he 
did cry a little. 

The next afternoon they all drove over to 
the fair. John had asked if he could not stay 
home, but Great-grandmother said that he 
must be ill to say a thing like that and needed 
a dose of pennyroyal tea. So, at the last 
minute, when he smelled the tea, John decided 
to go. There had never been a livelier fair. 
The brass band was playing and there were 
crowds of people. John could smell the gin¬ 
gerbread, but he was not one bit happy. He 
could not bear to look at the enclosure where 
the prize stock was. Suddenly, though, J ohn 
saw something strange! 

Among the prize winners was a large pig 
with a blue ribbon around his neck. His 
medal was tied to the ribbon. It was Henry. 
He had done just what pigs usually do, gone 


86 


MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 


in the opposite direction from the one in which 
people want them to. When John had tried 
to drive him home, he had started the other 
way and had reached the fair after all. 

And the joke of it was that Henry won two 
prizes, one prize for being so fat, and another 
for entering himself at the fair. He was the 
only pig who had ever done such a thing be¬ 
fore. 


THE DISCONTENTED PIG 


E ver so long ago, in the time when there 
were fairies, and men and animals talked 
together, there was a cnrly-tailed Pig. 

He lived by himself in a house at the edge 
of the village, and every day he worked in his 
garden. Whether the sun shone or the rain 
fell he dug and hoed and weeded, turning the 
earth around his tomato plants, and loosening 
the soil of the carrot plot, until the fame of 
his vegetables traveled through seven counties, 
and each year he won a prize at the royal fair. 

But after a time this pig grew tired of the 
endless toil. 

‘‘What matters it if I do have the finest 
vegetables in the kingdom,’^ he asked himself, 
“since I must work from morning until night 
to raise them? I shall go out in the world and 
look for an easier way to earn my living.’^ 

So he locked the door of his house, and shut 
the gate of his garden, and started up the road. 

A good three miles the little Pig traveled 
until he came to a cottage almost hidden in a 
grove of trees. Lovely music sounded around 

87 


88 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

him, and he smiled, for he had an ear for sweet 
sounds. 

will go and try to find the source of that 
music,’’ he thought, following the direction 
from which it seemed to come. 

Now it happened that in that cottage lived 
Thomas, a cat who made his living by playing 
on the violin. Little Pig saw him standing 
there in the door, pushing the bow back and 
forth across the strings of his violin. It put 
a thought into the Pig’s head. Surely, this 
must be an easier way of earning one’s living 
than digging in a garden, and pleasanter, too. 

‘‘Will you teach me to play the violin. 
Friend Thomas P’ asked the little Pig. 

Thomas looked up from his bow and nodded 
his head. 

“To be sure,” he said, “only do as I am do¬ 
ing.” 

He gave the little Pig the bow and the fiddle, 
and the Pig began to saw, but, oh, squeak, 
quang! No sweet music fell upon his ear. 
The sounds he heard were like the squealing of 
his baby brother pigs when a wolf was near 
the house. 

“Oh,” he cried, “This is not music!” 

Thomas, the cat, nodded his head. “Of 
course not,” he said. “You haven’t tried 


MERRY ANIMAL STORIES 


89 


enough. He who would play the violin must 
work, and work hard.” 

‘‘Then I think I will look for something 
else,” Little Pig said, “because I find this as 
hard as digging in my garden.” And he gave 
back the bow and fiddle, and started along the 
road. 

He wanted on and on until, at last, he came 
to a hut where lived a Dog who made cheese. 
He was kneading and moulding the curd into 
cakes, and the Pig thought that it looked very 
easy. 

“I have decided to go into the cheese busi¬ 
ness myself,” he said, and he asked the Dog if 
he would teach him the trade. 

This the Dog was quite willing to do, and 
a moment later the Pig was working beside 
him. But soon he grew hot and tired, and 
stopped to rest and fan himself. 

“No, no!” exclaimed the Dog. “You will 
spoil the cheese. There can be no rest until 
the work is done.” 

Little Pig opened his beady eyes in amaze¬ 
ment. ‘ ‘Indeed, ’ ’ he replied, ‘ ‘ then this is just 
as difficult as raising vegetables or learning 
to play a violin. I must go on and look for 
something easier.” And again he started on 
the road. 


90 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

On the other side of the river, in a sweet, 
green field, a man was taking honey out of bee¬ 
hives. The little Pig saw him as he crossed 
the bridge, and he thought that he had seldom 
seen any trade that would suit him better than 
this. It must be wonderfully pleasant there 
in the meadow among the fiowers. Honey was 
not heavy to lift, and ever so often he could 
stop and take a taste. The little Pig ran as 
fast as he could to ask the Beeman if he would 
take him into his employ. 

This plan pleased the man as much as it did 
Little Pig. 

‘HVe been looking for a helper for a year 
and a day,’^ he said. “Begin work at once.” 

He gave the Pig a veil and a pair of gloves, 
telling him to fasten them on well. Then he 
told him to lift the honey-comb out of a hive. 

The little Pig ran to do it, twisting his curly 
tail in the joy of having at last found a busi¬ 
ness that suited him. But, l:)uzz, buzz! The 
bees crept under his veil and inside his gloves. 
They stung him on his fingers, his snout, his 
ears, and his tail until he squeeled, dropped the 
honey, and ran. 

“Come back!” called the Bee-man. 

“No, indeed,” called back the little Pig, “the 
bees sting too hard.” 


V 


MERRY ANIMAL STORIES 91 

The man nodded his head. ^‘Of course they 
do,” he said. ‘‘That is part of the work. You 
cannot keep bees without being stung once in 
a while at least.” 

Little Pig blinked his eyes and began to 
think hard. “One must practise until one’s 
arm aches before learning to play the violin,” 
he said to himself, “When one makes cheese, 
one dares not stop a moment until the work is 
done. In taking honey from a hive the bees 
sting you until your head is on fire. Working 
in my garden is not so bad after all. I am go¬ 
ing back to it.” 

So the little Pig went down the road toward 
home, and was soon at work in his carrot plot. 
He raked, and hoed, and weeded, singing all the 
time, and there was no more contented Pig in 
all the kingdom. Every autumn he took his 
vegetables to the royal fair and never failed 
to bring home a prize. And sometimes, on 
holidays, the Cat, Thomas, and the Dog who 
made cheese, and the Bee-man came to visit 
him. 


A SMALL STORY 


T here was once a hen who talked about 
another hen in a not very good way, and 
in not at all a friendly way. The hen about 
whom she talked was named Pheendy Alome. 
Her own name was Teedly Toodlum. They 
both belonged to a flock of white hens which 
lived in the far-away country of Chicksum- 
eatyourkornio. 

Now, the hen who was named Teedly Tood¬ 
lum went around among the other hens making 
fun of Pheendy Alome on account of her hav¬ 
ing a speckled feather in her wing. She told 
them not to associate with Pheendy Alome, or 
scratch worms with her, or anything, all be¬ 
cause she had that speckled feather in her 
wing. 

One of the hens to whom Teedly Toodlum 
talked in this way was deaf, and so she could 
not hear very well. She had become deaf in 
consequence of not minding her mother. It 
happened in this way. A tall Shanghai 
rooster crowed close to her ear when she was 

92 


MERRY ANIMAL STORIES 


93 


just hatched out of her shell. This Shanghai 
stood very near, and in such a way that his 
throat came close to her nest, and he crowed 
there. She had a number of brothers and sis- 
ters who had come out at about the same time. 
These chicks wanted to put their heads out 
from under their mother’s feathers to see who 
was making the noise. But their mother said: 
‘‘No, no—no! Keep under! You might be 
made deaf. I have heard of such a thing hap¬ 
pening.” 

But one of the chicks did put her head out, 
and close to the Shanghai’s wide open throat, 
too, just as he was crowing terribly. Then her 
mother said: “Now, I shall have to punish 
you. Lshall prick you with my pin feathers.” 

So the chick was pricked with her mother’s 
pin feathers, and she became deaf besides, so 
that when she grew up she could hardly hear 
herself cackle. And this was the reason she 
could not understand very well when the hen 
named Teedly Toodlum was telling the others 
that the hen named Pheendy Alome had a 
speckled feather in her wing. 

One day the hen named Teedly Toodlum 
scratched a hole in the sand beneath a bramble- 
bush, and sat down there to get cool. And 
while she was cooling herself there, a cow came 


94 


MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 


along on the other side of the bramble-bush 
with a load of passengers on her back. The 
cows in the country of Chicksumeatyourkornio 
permitted the hens to ride on their backs, and 
when a large number were on they would step 
carefully so as not to shake them off. In 
frosty weather the cows allowed them to get 
up on their backs to warm their feet. Some¬ 
times hens who were troubled with cold feet 
used to fly up and push off the other hens who 
had been on a cow’s back long enough. 

The cow passed along on the other side of 
the bramble-bush and, by slipping one foot into 
a deep rut that was hidden in the grass, and so 
could not be seen, upset the whole load of pas¬ 
sengers. She then walked on, but the pas¬ 
sengers stayed there in the grass and had a lit¬ 
tle talk together, after their own fashion, of 
course. 

The deaf hen happened to be among them 
and after a while, seeing that the others were 
having such sport, she asked to know what it 
was all about. Upon this, the others, at least 
those who could stop laughing, raised their 
voices and all tried at once to make her under¬ 
stand. And this is what they said: 

‘‘Think of that goose of a hen, Teedly Tood- 
lum, telling us not to go with Pheendy Alome, 


MERRY ANIMAL STORIES 


95 


because Pheendy Alome has a speckled feather 
in her wing when, at the same time, Teedly 
Toodlum has two speckled feathers in her own 
wing, but doesn’t know it!” 

Teedly Toodlum was listening in her hole in 
the sand on the other side of the bramble-bush, 
and she heard rather more than was pleasant 
to hear. She looked through the bramble- 
bush and saw them. Some had their heads 
thrown back laughing; some were holding on 
to their sides, each with one claw; and some 
were stretching their heads forward, trying to 
make the deaf one understand; while the deaf 
one held her claw to her ear in order to hear 
better. 

‘‘Oh, I do feel so ashamed!” Teedly Toodlum 
said to herself. “I see now that one should 
never speak of the speckled feather one sees 
in another, since one can never be sure that 
one has not speckled feathers oneself.” 


THE MYSTERY OF THE COOKIES 


T^O you suppose that you could make some 

-L/of them with four legs'?’’ Newton, 
standing beside the kitchen table, asked 
Mother. 

Mother looked at the wonderful cookies that 
she was making, some of them baked a nice, 
crispy brown, and some only just cut out and 
ready to be put in the oven. She had made 
gingerbread cooky men, white sugar cooky 
chickens and ducks, and some others that 
looked like roosters. 

‘‘1 think that I can,” she told Newton, and 
then she cut out some very fine cooky rabbits. 

^^Oh,” Newton shouted, “how splendid! I 
don’t believe that there will be anything so 
nice at the church cake sale as your cookies, 
Mother.” 

Mother sighed a very small sigh as she 
slipped the last tin of cookies into the oven and 
wiped her warm face on the kitchen towel. 
“Mrs. Clark has made an angel cake and a 
gold cake with the yolks that were left from the 
angel one. Your Aunt Helen always sends 

96 


MERRY ANIMAL STORIES 


97 


one of those rich fruit cakes, and I heard Mrs. 
Beecher say that she was making three choco¬ 
late cakes with four layers apiece and extra 
thick frosting. But of course she can make 
chocolate cake since Mr. Beecher keeps the 
store and has plenty of sugar. Cookies don’t 
look like much, but they are a lot of trouble to 
make.” 

And everybody likes them. Mother,” New¬ 
ton said, taking a peep inside the sweet smell¬ 
ing oven. “I don’t believe that any four¬ 
legged cookies ever went to the church cake 
sale before.” 

‘‘Well, these won’t,” Mother said, “unless 
you can take them down to the parish house, 
Newton, because the baby is so fretty and I 
must stay home and look after her. I will 
pack them ever so nicely, and you will be care¬ 
ful won’t you, Newton. I don’t want them to 
break.” 

“Of course I will. I’ll start as soon as they 
are ready,” the little boy said. 

It was very exciting down at the parish house 
when Newton arrived with the big box of cook¬ 
ies. The door was not unlocked as yet, but the 
tables set out on the lawn were piled high with 
the most tempting looking boxes. Newdon put 
his on the doorstep and then went around the 


98 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

tables, taking little peeps under the covers to 
see what was inside the other boxes. It was 
wonderful! There, in all their splendor, 
waited the four layer chocolate cakes, all three 
of them, the white angel cake, and the gold 
one, not to speak of juicy fruit cakes, thickly 
frosted sponge cakes, cup cakes with icing 
flowers and initials on the top, and cocoanut 
layer cakes as white and fluffy as clouds. 

Newton was so busy making up a dream 
about himself in which he lived in Cakeland, 
the king, with the privilege of eating as many 
as he liked, that he failed to see the sexton open 
the door of the parish house. Then, when he 
did see, there was so much crowding and con¬ 
fusion as the donors of the cakes took them in, 
that he was pushed to one side. 

‘‘Never mind,’’ Newton thought, “the cook¬ 
ies are safe right there at the door. When all 
the women get in I will carry in the cookies 
and open them, and won’t their eyes stick out!” 

But when Newton looked for his box, it was 
gone. Although he went into the parish house 
and looked in every nook, and asked people 
about them, no one had seen those wonderful 
cookies. And Newton had to start home, his 
heart very sad indeed, and his mind very much 
puzzled. 


MERRY ANIMAL STORIES 


99 


He did not go straight home. He couldn’t 
bear to, for he knew that the trouble was due in 
a way to his own carelessness. He should 
never have left the box of cookies there on the 
doorstep. But the strange thing about it was 
that only the ladies with their boxes had come 
in and gone out of the gate. Where had those 
four and two-legged cookies taken themselves? 

Suddenly, Newton found out. He had gone 
the length of Main Street and come to the lit¬ 
tle laundry of nice, Chinese Mr. Hop Lee, the 
father of Happy, and John, and Baby Hop 
Lee. Newton knew the Hop Lees, and he liked 
the black-eyed, pig-tailed little Hop Lees. 
Happy was always ready to smile at him when 
he brought the laundry. John had given him 
a wonderful top, and the baby looked like a 
small mandarin in his yellow apron and odd 
cap. 

But here were the Hop Lees seated around 
the ironing table on which marched a proces¬ 
sion of cookies, men, chickens, ducks, and rab¬ 
bits. They were eating cookies, too, as fast as 
they could, and never had the Hop Lees seemed 
so happy. 

Newton ran all the way home. It was hard 
to understand. The Hop Lees lived a full half 
mile from the parish house. Who had taken 


100 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

the church cookies down to the laundry ? 

At last Newton, almost crying, told Mother 
about it, and she said not to mind, and she was 
as much puzzled as he. Those children 
needed a batch of cookies, with no mother to 
cook for them,” she said, ‘‘I don’t know but it 
was just as well that they got there, but I don’t 
understand.” 

No one did understand until after supper. 

“Here, Timmy, Tinmiy, come and have your 
supper,” Mother called, and Timmy, his tail 
between his legs, crawled out from behind the 
wood box where he had been hiding. “What 
ails that dog?” Mother asked. “He looks as 
if he had done something he shouldn’t have. 
Newton, did Timmy go with you down to the 
parish house this afternoon?” she asked. 

“He followed,” Newton said, “but I lost him 
after a while.” 

Mother thought a moment, for she was wiser 
than any one else in the family. Then she sat 
down in the rocking chair and laughed until it 
seemed as if she would never stop. When she 
could, she spoke. 

“Your father’s collars were in that nice 
clean box, Newton, and I took them out to pack 
the cookies in it in a napkin. Timmy must 
have seen the collars and when you left the 


MERRY ANIMAL STORIES 101 

box on the door step, he took it on down to the 
laundry. You know he goes there with you 
every week and carries the box in his mouth. 
Good old Timmy!” and Timmy, joyful, went 
up to Mother to be petted. 

‘‘Four legged cookies, and carried to the Hop 
Lees on four legs,” laughed Newton, “I don’t 
believe any of the other cake was half so much 
loved.” 


BOWWOW-CURLYCUE AND THE 
WOODEN LEG 


T he boy and the girl—no, that is impolite— 
the girl and the boy, stood at the garden 
gate looking down the road. 

Bowwow-Curlycnr, with his hair done up in 
curl papers, was there too, and he also was 
looking down the road. 

The cook had taken every stick to boil the 
oatmeal porridge; and the hoe, the shovel, the 
spade, and the rake had all gone to a party 
given by the new mowing machine. Seven 
nice plants and one young tree, and nothing 
with which to dig little houses in the ground for 
the roots to live in! 

‘‘What shall we do?’’ asked the boy. “The 
sun is going down behind Troykachunk Hill as 
fast as ever he can!” 

What on earth were they to do? Bowwow- 
Curlycur would have been willing to have 
scooped out a few holes with his nose, but he 
had an appointment with the dog who stole 
chickens, and so he wanted to keep his nose 
clean. 


102 


MERRY ANIMAL STORIES 


103 


‘^Somebody is coining down the road/’ said 
the girl. 

^‘It’s a man, and doesn’t he walk oddly?” 
said the boy. 

^‘I’ll go and see who it is,” barked Bowwow- 
Curlycur, and he made himself so flat that he 
looked like a queer kind of a giant caterpillar, 
squeezed under the gate, and ran down the 
road. 

Bowwow-Curlycur was a most wonderful 
dog. He could bark so plainly that anyone of 
common intelligence who heard him could un¬ 
derstand every word he said. 

‘^Who are you?” he asked as he danced 
round the stranger. 

Bowwow-Curlycur danced beautifully, much 
better than the girl and boy, for you see he had 
four legs while they each had only two. 

The man had common intelligence, so he an¬ 
swered, ‘‘All right, old fellow.” Then Bow¬ 
wow-Curlycur stopped dancing, sni:ffed at him, 
growled at him, turned back, ran to the girl and 
the boy, and barked one word. But it was a 
word of two syllables, equal to two little words. 

“Sailor!” barked Bowwow-Curlycur. 

Sure enough, as the man came nearer, the 
girl and the boy saw that he was dressed in a 
blue striped shirt with a large turnover collar. 


104 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

blue trousers, a pea-jacket, a tarpaulin hat, and 
a wooden leg. 

‘^Ship-ahoy!’’ shouted the sailor as soon as 
he saw the girl and the boy, ‘‘What craft’s 
thisThat was his way of saying, “How do 
you do? Who are you?” 

“Oh, if you only would!” said the girl. 

“Oh, yes, if you would!” said the boy. 

“Lend us your wooden leg for a few min¬ 
utes,” said the girl. 

‘ ‘ Shiver my timbers! ’ ’ said the sailor, and he 
laughed so loudly that his hat fell off and Bow- 
wow-Curlycur bit a large piece out of the rim. 
“What do you want my wooden leg for, 
youngsters?” 

“Well, you see,” said the girl, who was 
smarter than the boy, “we have some plants 
and a young tree to set out, and the cook has 
used all the sticks in the fire, and the hoe, the 
shovel, the spade, and the rake have all gone to 
a party given by the new mowing machine. 
Bowwow-Curly cur doesn’t want to get his nose 
dirty, and so we have nothing to dig the root 
houses with.” 

“Won’t you lend us your leg for a little 
while?” asked the boy. 

“Blessed if I don’t!” said the sailor, “but 
you will have to take me with it, for it is so 


MERRY ANIMAL STORIES 


105 


mucli attached to me that it can’t leave me.” 

‘‘Oh, no indeed!” said the wooden leg, but so 
softly that no one but Bowwow-Curlycur heard 
it, and he put his head on one side, stuck out 
his tongue, but barked nothing. 

Then the sailor threw his leg that wasn’t 
wooden up in the air, spun around three times 
on the leg that was wooden, commenced whis¬ 
tling the sailor’s hornpipe, and came into the 
garden. 

“Here’s fun!” barked Bowwow-Curlycur, 
and ran around after his own tail like mad. 

So they formed a procession. The sailor 
went first and stamped in the ground with his 
wooden leg. The boy came next and put a 
plant in the hole that was made by the wooden 
leg, and the girl followed with the young tree in 
her arms. Bowwow-Curlycur carried his ears 
and his curl papers. The cat who could make 
faces with her tail came after, with her four 
youngest kittens. At last all the plants were 
set out and only the young tree remained. 

“Now,” said the sailor, “I must make a deep 
hole for this,” and he raised his wooden leg and 
brought it down with such force that he buried 
it in the ground up to his knee, and, oh, it 
wouldn’t come out again! The sailor tugged 
and pulled, and pulled and tugged. The boy 


106 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

and the girl pulled and tugged, and tugged 
and pulled. Bowwow-Curlycur scolded and 
snapped at the leg that wasn’t wooden, but all 
was of no use. 

At last the sailor threw up his arms in the 
air, gave a great jerk, and away he flew 
straight up towards the sky like a rocket, leav¬ 
ing his wooden leg behind him. 

‘ ‘ Joily! ’ ’ said the boy, ^ ‘ what a lark! ’ ’ And 
the girl said, ‘‘Oh, my!” 

Bowwow-Curlycur for once in his life was 
too astonished to say anything. 

The cat made a dreadful face with her tail 
and then walked solemnly off, her four kittens 
marching behind her. And the moon came out 
just then, and the girl and the boy knew that 
it was bed time so they went to bed. 

But about twelve o’clock at night when 
everjdhing was still except the frogs, and the 
crickets, and the katydids, and a few other 
things of that kind that stay up all night so that 
they can see the sun rise, the girl and the boy 
heard a strange tramp, tramp, tramp in the 
garden. 

Getting up and peeping out of the window, 
they saw the wooden leg hopping down the 
walk, and as it passed they heard it clack to 
itself, “How cleverly I got rid of that sailor. 


MERRY ANIMAL STORIES 


107 


Now I’m off to see the world by myself!” 
And the wooden leg went out of the garden 
gate and they never saw it again. But, look¬ 
ing up at the moon, they beheld the face of the 
sailor wearing a broad grin. 

As for Bowwow-Curlycur, after he had 
taken his hair out of the curl papers and made 
his call on the dog who stole chickens, he 
buried-in a hole that the wooden leg had made, 
and he had saved—a few choice bones, and 
then he slept the sleep of a just dog. 


TURNING INTO CATS 


O NCE upon a time there was a law that on 
a certain day, when the meeting house 
bell rang at noon, everybody should turn into a 
cat. 

Some people don’t believe that this is true, 
but you just ask the children and the barn 
swallows! 

Well, and so you may be sure that it was 
great fun to sit up on the big granite rock on 
the side of Deer Hill and see them then, just 
where they were, and whatever they were do¬ 
ing, turning into cats at that very moment. 

The minister’s son had come into his father’s 
study with his hat in his hand, and said: 
‘‘Shall Cornelius and I, sir, take our scythes, 
sir, and go out and mow a little while, sirU’ 
And then the sexton caught hold of the bell 
rope. He always rang the bell exactly when 
the sun-dial, and the noon mark, and his grand¬ 
mother’s eight day clock said it was noon. 
Ding, Dong! went the bell and—it was only a 

maltese kitten who held the rope! 

108 


MERRY ANIMAL STORIES 


109 


Just at that hour Aunt Patty was out in her 
garden hoeing weeds, with an old hat of Uncle 
Rodney’s on her head. And she began to turn, 
first her nose, and then her chin. They were 
very long and sharp when she was Aunt Patty, 
but they grew short and snubby, and whiskers 
began to show, and her ears pricked up as 
though she heard something. Then, quicker 
than you can say scat, she was a calico colored 
cat chasing Deacon Davis’ hens that were try¬ 
ing to sneak in through her garden fence. 
After scaring them almost out of their 
feathers, she went into Deacon Davis’ yard, 
and into the house through Mrs. Deacon Davis’ 
cat-hole. Up to the back chamber she went 
and prowled about, and sniffed in all the dark 
corners and behind old tea chests and barrels. 

When she was Aunt Patty, she had always 
suspected that Mrs. Deacon Davis had some 
cobwebs and poke-holes out of sight, for all 
that she kept everything looking as neat as wax 
on the outside. 

And then the minister ’s son jumped with one 
spring on the minister’s shoulder and began to 
bite the minister’s hair and claw off his glasses, 
for he liked rough ways and mischief as well 
as any other boy, only he had to be proper, be¬ 
cause he was the minister’s son. 


110 


MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 


The minister, solemn and dignified, looked 
around, a good deal astonished. And then his 
glasses grew rounder and rounder, and his 
arms grew slenderer and slenderer, and then he 
seemed to wink all over. Next, there was a 
great black cat with a white spot on his throat, 
and a white face, and four white paws sitting in 
the study chair, and one paw rested on a thick 
volume of sermons. 

It was a great change for the minister. But 
as for Mrs. Deacon Davis, why, she did not 
seem to alter very much. Her eyes had been 
the color of the mildest skim milk before, much 
more faded than the eyes of an old cat; and her 
hair had always been pale buff and sort of 
furry. She had a way of rubbing herself 
against the side of a chair as she talked along 
in a purr-purring way. She stopped work for 
the first time in her life, though, and taking her 
yellow paw^s out of the wash-tub, she began 
chasing dandelion down. 

Now, as soon as ten clocks anywhere in town 
struck one at the same second, all these cats 
turned back to people again; and you ought to 
have seen how surprised they were to catch 
themselves doing such odd things! 

Aunt Patty had got in through the parsonage 
cat-hole, and was rummaging through the 


MERRY ANIMAL STORIES 


111 


minister’s wife’s bureau drawers among her 
best clothes. As badly as that looked in a cat, 
t looked a thousand times worse in Aunt Patty, 
still wearing Uncle Eodney’s old hat, and with 
a hoe tucked under her arm. 

Mrs. Deacon Davis was curled up asleep in 
the rocking chair, and she rubbed her eyes, and 
put her hand right into the wash tub again, and 
didn’t know that anything had happened to 
her. She would not believe it if you were to 
tell her today. Only, when her clock struck 
one—it was always a little slow—she felt wor¬ 
ried to see a few cat-hairs on the plush of the 
rocking chair, and to realize that she had lost 
so much good time right in the middle of the 
day. “But then,” she thought, “my nap has 
rested me so much, and I do suppose I needed 
it. I shall just have to work the smarter to 
make up.” 

The minister was the most astonished of all, 
for he found himself playing with a large, 
brown, limp rat. 

“This is very extraordinary,” he said, “most 
remarkable! Son,” he called to the black kit¬ 
ten that was just swinging down from a tree in 
the garden where it had been chasing a 
squirrel, “Take this animal out and bury it 
somewhere. ’ ’ And then he started walking up 


112 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

and down the foot-path from the door to the 
gate, with his hands behind his back, thinking 
over the heads of his next Sunday’s sermon. 

On the whole, it was funnier when the cats 
became people again than when the people be¬ 
came cats. Just think it over some night as 
you are dropping off to sleep, and fancy how 
the people you know, one after another, would 
look turning into cats, and what they would 
start doing. And the next thing, if you don’t 
believe my story ever happened, you will be 
believing some other story not a bit more true. 


WHY GRANDFATHER FROG HAS 
NO TAIL 


O LD MOTHER WEST WIND had gone to 
her day’s work, leaving all the Merry 
Little Breezes to play in the Green Meadows. 
They had played tag and rnn races with the 
Bees, and played hide and seek with the Sun¬ 
beams, and now they were gathered around the 
Smiling Pool where on a green lily pad sat 
Grandfather Frog. 

Grandfather Frog was old, very old indeed, 
and very, very wise. He wore a green coat and 
his voice was very deep. When Grandfather 
Frog spoke, everybody listened respectfully. 
Even Billy Mink treated Grandfather Frog 
with respect, for Billy Mink’s father and his 
father’s father could not remember when 
Grandfather Frog had not sat on the lily pad 
watching for green flies. 

Down in the Smiling Pool were some of 
Grandfather Frog’s great-great-great-great- 
great grandchildren. You wouldn’t have 
known that they were his grandchildren unless 

113 


114 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

someone had told you. They didn’t look the 
least bit like Grandfather Frog. They were 
round and fat and had long tails, and perhaps 
this is why they were called Pollywogs. 

‘‘Oh, Grandfather Frog, tell us why you 
don’t have a tail as you did when you were 
young,” begged one of the Merry Little 
Breezes. 

Grandfather Frog snapped up one of the 
foolish little green flies and settled himself on 
his big lily pad, while all the Merry Little 
Breezes gathered round to listen. 

“Once upon a time,” began Grandfather 
Frog, “the Frogs ruled the world, which was 
mostly water. There was very little dry land 
—oh, very little indeed! There were no boys 
to throw stones, and no hungry Mink to gobble 
up a foolish Frog baby who happened to be 
taking a sun bath.” 

Billy Mink, who had joined the Merry Little 
Breezes and was listening, squirmed uneasily 
and looked away guiltily. 

“In those days all the Frogs had tails, long, 
handsome tails of which they were very, very 
proud indeed,” continued Grandfather Frog. 
“The King of all the Frogs was twice as big as 
any other Frog, and his tail was three times as 
long. He was very proud, oh, very proud in- 


MERRY ANIMAL STORIES 


115 


deed of his long tail. He used to sit and ad¬ 
mire it until he thought that there never had 
been and never could be such a tail. He used 
to wave it back and forth in the water, and 
every time he waved it all the other Frogs 
would cry, ^Ah!’ and, ‘Oh!’ 

“Every day the King grew more vain. He 
did nothing at all but eat and sleep and ad¬ 
mire his tail. 

“Now you all know that people who do noth¬ 
ing in this world are of ho use and there is 
little room for them. So when Mother Nature 
saw how useless the Frog tribe had become she 
called the King Frog before her and she said: 

“ ‘Because you can think of nothing but your 
beautiful tail it shall be taken away from you. 
Because you do nothing but eat and sleep, your 
mouth shall become wide like a door, and your 
eyes shall start forth from your head. You 
shall become bow-legged and ugly to look at, 
and all the world shall laugh at you.’ 

“The King Frog looked at his beautiful tail 
and already it seemed to have grown shorter. 
He looked again, and it was shorter still. 
Every time he looked his tail had grown 
shorter and smaller. By and by when he 
looked there was nothing left but a little stub 
which he couldn’t even wriggle. Then even 


116 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

that disappeared, his eyes popped out of his 
head, and his mouth grew bigger and bigger.’’ 

Old Grandfather Frog stopped and looked 
sadly at a foolish green fly coming his way. 
“Chug-arum,” said Grandfather Prog, open¬ 
ing his mouth very wide and hopping up in the 
air. When he sat down again on his big lily 
pad the green fly was nowhere to be seen. 
Grandfather Prog smacked his lips and went 
on: 

“And from that day to this every Frog has 
started life with a large tail, and as he has 
grown bigger and bigger his tail has grown 
smaller and smaller, until finally it disappears, 
and then he remembers how foolish and useless 
it is to be vain of what nature has given us. 

“And that is how I came to lose my tail,” 
finished Grandfather Frog. 

“Thank you,” shouted all the Merry Little 
Breezes. “We won’t forget, ’ ’ 


THE RACCOON AND THE BEE-TREE 


T he Raccoon had been asleep all day in the 
snug hollow of a tree. The dusk was 
coming on when he awoke, stretched himself 
twice, and jumping down from the top of the 
tall, dead stump in which he made his home, 
set out to look for his supper. 

In the middle of the woods there was a lake, 
and all along the lake shore there rang out the 
alarm cries of the water people as the Raccoon 
came nearer and nearer. 

First, the Swan gave a scream of warning. 
The Crane repeated the cry, and from the very 
middle of the lake the Loon, swimming low, 
took it up and echoed it back over the still 
water. 

The Raccoon sped merrily on, and finding no 
unwary bird that he could seize, he picked up 
a few mussel-shells from the beach, cracked 
them neatly and ate the sweet meat. 

A little further on, as he was leaping hither 
and thither through the long, tangled meadow 
grass, he landed with all four feet on a family 

117 


118 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

of Skunks—Father, Mother, and twelve little 
ones—who were curled up sound asleep in a 
soft bed of broken dry grass. 

^‘Huh! ” exclaimed the father Skunk, ‘‘What 
do you mean by this, eh And he stood look¬ 
ing at him defiantly. 

“Oh, excuse me, excuse me,begged the Eac- 
coon. “I am very sorry. I did not mean to 
do it! I was just running along and I did not 
see you at all.^’ 

“Well, be careful where you step next time,” 
grumbled the Skunk, and the Eaccoon was 
glad to hurry along. 

Eunning up a tall tree he came upon two red 
Squirrels in one nest, but before he could get 
his paws upon one of them they were scolding 
angrily from the topmost branch. 

“Come down, friends,” called the Eaccoon. 
“What are you doing up there? Why, I 
wouldn’t harm you for anything!” 

“Ugh! You can’t fool us,” chattered the 
Squirrels, and the Eaccoon went on. 

Deep in the woods, at last, he found a great 
hollow tree which attracted him by a peculiar 
sweet smell. He sniffed and sniffed, and went 
round and round until he saw something trick¬ 
ling down through a narrow crevice. He 
tasted it and it was deliciously sweet. 


MERRY ANIMAL STORIES 


119 


He ran up the tree and down again, and at 
last he found an opening into which he could 
thrust his paw. He brought it out covered 
with honey! 

Now the Raccoon was happy. He ate and 
scooped, and scooped and ate the golden, trick¬ 
ling honey with both forepaws until his pretty, 
pointed face was daubed all over. 

Suddenly he tried to get a paw into his ear. 
Something hurt him terribly just then, and the 
next minute his sensitive nose was frightfully 
stung. He rubbed his face with both sticky 
paws. The sharp stings came thicker and 
faster, and he wildly clawed the air. At last 
he forgot to hold on to the branch any longer, 
and with a screech he tumbled to the ground. 

There he rolled and rolled on the dead leaves 
until he was covered with leaves from head to 
foot, for they stuck to his fine, silky fur. Most 
of all they covered his sticky face and his eyes. 
Mad with fright and pain, he dashed through 
the forest calling to some one of his own kind 
to come to his aid, for he did not understand the 
bee stings. 

The moon was now bright, and many of the 
woods people were abroad. A second Raccoon 
heard the call and went to meet it. But when 
he saw a terrifying stranger plastered with dry 


120 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

leaves racing madly toward him, he turned and 
ran for his life, for he did not know what this 
thing might be. 

The Eaccoon who had been stealing the 
honey ran after him as fast as he could, hoping 
to overtake and beg the other to help him get 
rid of his leaves. 

So they ran and ran out of the woods to the 
shining white beach around the lake. Here a 
Fox met them, but after one look at the queer 
object which was chasing the frightened Eac¬ 
coon he too turned and ran away at his best 
speed. 

Presently a young Bear came loping out of 
the forest and sat up on his haunches to see 
them go by. But when he got a good look at 
the Eaccoon who was plastered with honey and 
dried leaves, he scrambled up a tree to be out of 
the way. 

By this time, the Eaccoon was so frantic that 
he hardly knew what he was doing. He ran 
up the tree after the Bear and caught hold of 
his tail. 

‘‘Woo! Woo!^’ snarled the Bear, and the 
Eaccoon let go. He was tired out and dread¬ 
fully ashamed. He did now what he ought to 
have done at the very first—he jumped into the 
lake and washed ofE most of the leaves. 


MERRY ANIMAL STORIES 


121 


Then he went back to his hollow tree and 
curled himself up and licked and licked his soft 
fur until he had licked himself clean, and then 
he went to sleep. 



JACK-O-LANTEEN ALIVE 

‘ * A ND one day in the late fall,” Uncle Jack 
went on, as he and Helen and Jndson 
sat together on the big couch in front of the 
open fire, ‘‘when the Jack-O-Lantern was sit¬ 
ting all by himself out in the corn field, his big 
eyes shining in his pumpkin head, he thought 
that he would like to make a journey to town. 
So he—” but at this most exciting part of the 
story. Uncle Jack pulled out his watch. 
“Dear me,” he said, “half past seven, and you 
two will have to go to bed. Tomorrow night, I 
will tell you about Jack-O-Lantern in town. ” 
Helen sighed. Uncle Jack was able to think 
up the most interesting stories, and he told 
them to her and her brother every evening 
after supper. A Jack-O-Lantern who came 
alive and took a journey! Had there ever been 
m 



MERRY HOLIDAY STORIES 


123 


such a story as that, though? She went over 
to the window to look out at the wide lawn be¬ 
fore she went upstairs. Pussy sometimes 
played out there late and had to be called in. 
But Helen did not see Pussy. 

On the gate post of the empty place next door 
sat Jack-O-Lantern, the light in his pumpkin 
head streaming out from his big eyes, his nose, 
and between his rows of sharp teeth. No one 
had lived in the house on that place for a year. 

Helen pulled down the shade quickly, and 
hurried up to bed. did not really see Jack- 
0-Lantern,’^ she thought. was thinking 
about Uncle Jack’s story, and saw a make-be¬ 
lieve Jack-O-Lantern.” And the next night 
Helen was just as eager as Jack to hear the 
rest of the story. 

‘^So Jack-O-Lantern went to town all 
alone,” Uncle Jack began the next night right 
after supper, ‘^and he found a nice little empty 
house where he could live by himself and watch 
the children going by to school. You see he 
had been lonely out there in the corn field—” 

^^Mew, mew, mew/^ came Pussy’s voice from 
the back door. It was a frosty night, and she 
wanted to come in beside the fire. 

Judson ran to the door, and stepped out to 
pick up Pussy. Then he jumped. Prom the 


124 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

window of the empty house of the place next 
door looked Jack-O-Lantern. His big eyes 
shone right over toward Judson. As Judson 
looked at him in wonder, Jack-O-Lantern came 
out of the empty house and as far as the back 
fence. He climbed up there and sat down, 
nearer Judson. 

Judson hurried in the house, and ran up to 
Uncle Jack. ‘‘Oh, Uncle Jack,’’ he asked, 
“would you mind changing the story, and tell¬ 
ing us about Bushy Tail, the squirrel?” 

“Why, no,” Uncle Jack said, but he won¬ 
dered why Judson had asked this, and why 
Helen was so pleased, too, not to hear any more 
about Jack-O-Lantern, whose story he had 
been making up as he went along. 

The next night a splendid thing happened. 
Mother said that Helen and Judson might stay 
up until eight o’clock in order to take a basket 
of fruit and mince pies to grandmother who 
lived way down at the other end of Maple 
Avenue. They had put Jack-O-Lantern quite 
out of their minds, for they thought that they 
had only imagined seeing Mm. Grandmother 
gave them hot chocolate, kissed them good 
night, and then they started home. But each 
remembered Jack as they came to the empty 
house next door. 


MERRY HOLIDAY STORIES 


125 


Just as they passed the gate, they heard foot¬ 
steps behind them. Helen turned around, and 
she saw Jack-O-Lantern running after them. 
Judson, too, looked around, and he saw that 
Jack-O-Lantern had four legs. How he and 
Helen ran! 

saw him night before last,’’ Helen gasped. 

‘H saw him last night,” Judson said. 

Trot, trot; gallop, gallop, went Jack-O-Lan- 
tern’s four little feet behind them. He was 
gaining on them. They could hear him breath¬ 
ing. There was no use trying to escape him. 
Just before they reached their home gate, Jud¬ 
son turned, stopped, and bravely faced him. 
And Jack-O-Lantern spoke, in two voices! 

‘^Oh, please don’t run away from us,” said 
his girl’s voice. 

^‘We are so lonesome in our new house, and 
we thought that you would like to see the Jack- 
O-Lantern we made,” said his boy’s voice. 

How Helen and Judson laughed to see, in the 
light from the street lamp, a fat pumpkin Jack- 
O-Lantern carried high above their heads by a 
little boy and girl of their own ages. Molly 
and Henry had just moved into the empty 
house next door; not all their things had come 
yet. But they had bought a pumpkin the first 
day, remembering their good times in their 


126 


MEKEY TALES FOR CHILDREN 


country home, and had made Jack-O-Lantern. 

They were not lonely another day, though, 
with Helen and Judson to play with. And 
Uncle Jack laughed harder than any of them 
at the joke. 

never thought that my story was going to 
come true,’’ he said, “but that is the odd part 
of stories. Sometimes they do. ’ ’ 


THE DINNER THAT RAN AWAY 

T looks as if it was going to be a green 
i Thanksgiving day tomorrow/’Mr. KSweet, 
the grocer, said as he helped Bruce to load his 
express cart with the things for the dinner that 
he had just bought for his grandmother. The 
cart was pretty full to begin with, for a fat 
turkey sat up near the seat, there were some 
potatoes and a big winter squash back of him, 
and the bag of turnips. Now there were the 
sugar, the cranberries, raisins, and citron to go 
in, but Mr. Sweet was a wonder at packing. 
He put all the packages in so that they would 
not spill, and then he smiled at Bruce and at 
Hiram, who had come down town to help with 
the Thanksgiving marketing. 

‘^Can you two fellows get home all right 
without a spill, do you think?” he asked. 
‘‘You know it is up hill all the way, and steep 
at that.” 

“Oh, yes, thank you, Mr. Sweet,” Bruce said. 
“We’ll manage.” 


127 


128 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

‘‘Baa-aa/’ said Hiram in a loud voice to 
show that he would do his part. Hiram was 
Bruce’s tame goat, and he could pull a loaded 
express cart up almost any steep hill, the cord 
fastened to his harness. 

Off they started, and soon they left the shops 
behind, and started up Hilldale Avenue toward 
grandmother’s house. Tap, tap, went Hiram’s 
little hoofs on the sidewalk, and Bruce ran 
along beside, kicking the dry leaves that danced 
along beside him. Thanksgiving tomorrow, 
and roasted turkey, mashed turnips, cranberry 
sauce, and citrons and raisins in the fruit cake! 
No wonder Hiram’s feet twinkled along so 
gaily, and Bruce drove him with a hop, skip, 
and a jiunp. All those good things to eat were 
right there in the cart. Up, up the Avenue 
they climbed, and soon now they would be 
stopping with a flourish at grandmother’s 
kitchen door. 

Just before they reached the house, though, 
they came to Claire’s house, and from her 
kitchen there drifted the sweetest kind of a 
smell; boiling butter scotch, and Claire always 
wanted to share the candy that she made with 
Bruce. Perhaps she had telephoned to him 
while he was doing the marketing. Anyway, 
he decided to stop and see Claire for a few mo- 


MERRY HOLIDAY STORIES 


129 


ments. He tied Hiram to the hedge and went in. 

Yes, that was just what had happened. 
Claire had telephoned over to ask Bruce to 
come and share the butter scotch, and she was 
so glad that it was not too late. They poured 
it out into pans, cut it into little squares, and 
then waited a while for it to cool enough so 
that they might eat some. 

must go now, Claire,’’ Bruce said at last. 
‘‘You see Hiram and I have the whole Thanks¬ 
giving dinner out here in the road. ’ ’ 

But when they went out, Hiram and the din¬ 
ner were gone! 

“I tied him ever so carefully,” Bruce said, 
almost ready to cry, for there was not a sight 
of the cart or the goat anywhere. 

“We must look for it then,” Claire said, and 
they went all the way to the bottom of the hill 
and as far as Mr. Sweet’s grocery store, but 
not even a hair of Hiram, or a single raisin was 
to be found. 

“It’s too bad, and it is all my fault, Bruce,” 
Claire said, “for I was making candy and you 
smelled it. I am going home with you, and tell 
your grandmother all about it.” 

But it was long after the time when Bruce 
had been expected home when they did arrive. 
They had spent almost an hour looking for the 


i 


130 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

Thanksgiving dinner that had run away. 
There was Mrs. Flynn, who came sometimes to 
help grandmother when she had a good deal of 
cooking to do in the kitchen. But she was not 
cooking. Oh, no, she was telling such a won¬ 
derful story that grandfather was listening, 
and no one noticed Bruce and Claire as they 
came into the kitchen and listened too. 

‘‘Not believe in fairies?’’ Mrs. Flynn was 
saying, her Irish eyes blue and her wrinkled 
cheeks rosy with excitement. “The fairies 
this very day, just a bit of a while ago, brought 
me and Patsy, and Ellen, and little Bridget 
such a Thanksgiving dinner as we have not laid 
eyes on in years. A fat turkey, and potatoes, 
and squash, and turnips, and all the makings of 
sauce and a pudding. Here were the children 
looking out of the window at the dinners going 
by, and all at once a little express cart, all alone 
of itself, rolled up to our gate. Out ran Patsy, 
just in time to fetch it in. Such a dinner as we 
never had in our lives before!” 

“You don’t say so,” grandfather said. 
“Pine, Mrs. Flynn, but odd.” 

“I am so glad,” grandmother said; “we were 
going to send some dinner down to you, but it 
wouldn’t have been all that.” 

Bruce and Claire, their eyes popping out of 


MERRY HOLIDAY STORIES 


131 


their heads, went out into the back yard. They 
did not know what to say, but just then Hiram 
wandered in through the gate. His mouth was 
red from berries he had been eating. Some 
green leaves hung from his whiskers, and a bit 
of torn rope was around his neck. Hiram 
always did come home in the end, and he never 
was able to hide anything that he had done. 

Hiram has been eating from our hedge, 
Bruce,’’ Claire exclaimed. 

^‘And he gnawed the rope that held the 
cart,” Bruce went on. 

‘^And then the Thanksgiving dinner ran 
away down the hill to Mrs. Flynn’s house, there 
at the beginning of the avenue,” Claire giggled. 

^^Come on in, and tell grandmother,” Bruce 
said. ^ ‘ She will just be glad. ’ ’ 

‘‘But we won’t tell Mrs. Flynn,” Claire 
added, “we’ll let her believe in the fairies.” 

And grandmother felt just the same way 
about it. Patsy needed a cart, and grand¬ 
father said that Bruce could have a new one, 
and they would have a chicken pie for dinner. 

“How about Hiram?” Bruce asked. 

“It looks as if it was going to be a green 
Thanksgiving day,”, grandfather said, “you 
don’t ever need to worry about a goat.” And 
out in the yard Hiram answered, “Baa-aa!” 


THE WONDER NUT 


‘^'"T^HERE/’ Timothy said, putting the two 
JL empty shells of the fat walnut together 
and holding them until the glue was dry, ‘‘no 
one would ever suspect that it is different.’’ 
He looked out at the windy hills and the bare 
cornfield. “I wish, oh, how I do wish—” but 
just then Mother called from the farm kitchen, 
“More wood, Timmy, dear.” So no one but 
the mice in the wood shed heard the rest, “that 
I wasn’t the only boy.” 

“There,” said Nutcracker as he filled the last 
little wooden box with neatly cracked and as¬ 
sorted nuts and set it with the others in the 
window of the tiny store down near the city 
dock, “I think that I can take some time off 
and crack one for myself. ’ ’ 

Outside, in the city street, the big lamps 
glowed like the eyes of goblins and the chest- 
nut-roasters sang of fall, and red leaves, and 
bonfires burning somewhere. Nutcracker 
knew about these. He had heard stories of 
the country in the public school, and whenever 

132 


MERRY HOLIDAY STORIES 133 

he went down to the dock for a sack of nuts 
from the country for his father’s nut store, he 
pretended all the way home, with it on his 
back. First, he was a frisky squirrel like the 
squirrels he had never seen. Then he was a 
pumpkin Jack-O-Lantern grinning through 
his teeth at the people he met. But when he 
came to the store, he was Tony; Nutcracker, 
the boys called him, cracking nuts as soon as 
school was over and selling them as fast as he 
could. 

‘‘Can I have a walnut?” he asked his father, 
and when he heard, “yes,” he dug deep down 
in a sack for a large one. Nutcracker held it 
up and shook it. “Too full of meat to rattle,” 
he said, “a fine fat one.” Then he laid it on 
the stone to crack it. 

But Nutcracker waited a moment. He took 
the nut up in his brown hands and looked at it 
closely. 

“Funny,” he thought. “I never saw a nut 
like this. ” He felt the edges, and then he took 
his jack knife out of his pocket and carefully 
cut away the rim of brown crystal glue that 
held them. He stuck the point of the knife 
between the edges and gently pried them open. 
The two parts of the big walnut fell away on 
the table. They were clean inside as a whistle. 


134 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

But out tumbled a small, folded paper. 

Nutcracker took it to the window where the 
street lamp shone in, and unfolded it. The 
writing was tiny, so that quite a long letter 
could be finished in so small a space. But 
Nutcracker could read it. Was he not at the 
head of his class in school ? 

‘‘Bear Squirrel,’’ in that delightful way did 
the wonder nut first speak, “I am Timothy, the 
boy of Forest Hills Farm who gathered this 
sack of nuts to send away. I am the only boy, 
and I wish that you would come and spend 
Thanksgiving with me. Captain Butler of the 
Mary Jane, who will bring the nuts to you, 
knows me and he could bring you back on the 
return trip. Do come. 

“Timothy Brown.” 

“Father!” Nutcracker cried, waving the let¬ 
ter high, “listen,” he read it. “Am I not a 
squirrel, a city squirrel, cracking nuts all my 
spare time? I found this wonder nut, and 
only the other day the Captain said that he 
would like to take me for a trip some day. 
May I go?” 

So that was how Nutcracker, with a bag of 
figs and a loaf of sweet Italian bread and some 


MERRY HOLIDAY STORIES 135 

odd Uttle chocolate drops wrapped in shining 
red and blue and silver papers, went down to 
the dock to board the Mary Jane the week be¬ 
fore Thanksgiving. And the chestnut-roaster 
sang to him all the way of fall, and red leaves, 
and burning bonfires, and a country boy wait¬ 
ing at the end of the trip to share Thanksgiving 
with him. 


NED, THE TOY-BREAKER 

N OW Christmas comes with all its joys, and, 
oh, such wondrous pretty toys Kris Krin- 
gle’s men have brought tonight, that children 
marvel at the sight! 

To Neddy, quite too many things the happy 
day of Christmas brings. There’s, first of all, 
the Christmas tree, and sparkling on it he can 
see the lighted candles, many score, and apples 
gilt and silver o’er. Whole piles of dainty 
gingerbread, and sugar plums are thickly 
spread. And Ned is such a happy boy, he 
stands and laughs for very joy. 

A golden horse he finds, besides, upon whose 
back a soldier rides. A trumpet red, a drum¬ 
mer, too, who beats a regular tattoo as oft the 
handle round you twist. So often works each 
tiny fist. 

Ned’s father says, ^‘Now mind, dear boy, 
and while these presents you enjoy, still spoil 
not what you cannot make, and do not all your 
playthings break.” 


136 


MERRY HOLIDAY STORIES 


137 


But Ned would no attention pay. He likes 
to spoil as well as play. He breaks the 
trumpet right in two. The drummer’s handle, 
in a freak, he madly turns to make it creak, 
till man and drum to pieces go. The frag¬ 
ments form a heap confused! Was ever drum¬ 
mer more ill-used? Here lies a drum, and 
there a boot, and here’s the drum—forever 
mute. And here the sword, and there the 
stand, and drumsticks, but without a hand. In 
short, such ruin has been wrought as though a 
battle had been fought. 

And when ‘Papa the mischief spies, and sees 
the broken toys, he cries, ‘‘Why, Ned, is this 
the care you take, when told to play but not to 
break?” 

But careless Neddy does not hear the warn¬ 
ing voice so kind and near. And when Papa 
has turned his back, again the toys go snap, 
and crack! The horse and rider both are 
dashed upon the floor and, reckless, smashed, 
as loud the soldier cries, aghast, “Ah, me, ah, 
me, I’m dying fast.” 

Now, in the Christmas fairies trip, and from 
the tree the apples strip. They take the horse 
and gingerbread, and all the playthings spoiled 
by Ned, and with the broken fragments make a 
substance which they knead and bake; and by- 


138 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

and-by, when duly warm, into a giant nose they 
form. 

Full six feet long and very thick, this nose on 
Neddy’s face they stick; and always with this 
pig-like snout must Neddy live and go about! 


SANTA CLAUSE SLEEPY STORY 

T here was once a little girl who would 
not go to sleep, and it was Christmas Evc! 
Her red stocking hung in the chimney corner, 
and her little pink self was snuggled deep down 
in the soft blankets, but her blue button eyes 
were wide open. 

‘‘What shall I do about this thought Santa 
Claus, who was waiting and worrying up on the 
snowy house roof beside the chimney. “I can 
not drive over to the next house until I have 
filled this little girPs stocking and left her a 
shut-eye doll, and I can not go down the chim¬ 
ney until she is asleep.” 

So Santa Claus peered down the chimney, 
rubbed his nose, pulled his beard, and then 
called softly to the cricket who lived in the 
hearth. 

“House Cricket, will you put up your fiddle, 
your little brown fiddle, until Christmas morn¬ 
ing so that the little girl may go to sleep?” 
asked Santa Claus. 


139 


140 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

But the cricket, who was improvising a new 
Christmas tune, merry and shrill, chirped back 
up the chimney, will put up my fiddle, Santa 
Claus, if the gray mouse will stop dancing here 
on the hearth.’’ 

So Santa Claus called down the chimney very 
softly to the gray mouse, who tripped and 
skipped on the toes of her little gray feet to the 
tune of the cricket’s chirping, and he said, 
‘‘Gray Mouse, Gray Mouse, will you stop 
dancing, that the House Cricket may stop 
fiddling, and the little girl may go to sleep 
But the gray mouse liked to watch her own 
gray shadow dancing beside her upon the 
hearth, so she chattered back to Santa Claus, 
“How can I stop dancing when the Christ¬ 
mas star spreads a path here for my feet*?” 

So Santa Claus put his chubby hands to his 
cherry lips and he called way, way up to the 
sky where the Christmas star shone, “Christ¬ 
mas star, will you please stop making a path on 
the hearth, so that the gray mouse may stop 
dancing, and the cricket stop fiddling, and the 
little girl may go to sleep?” 

But the Christmas star had just found a 
way to shine into the little girl’s nursery, and 
wanted to keep on shining. “I can not do as 
you ask me,” it twinkled back to Santa Claus, 


MERRY HOLIDAY STORIES 141 

unless the clouds cover my face with a veil of 
snow.’’ 

So Santa Claus stopped a drifting cloud that 
hung in the sky just over the roof of the house, 
and he said to it, ^‘Oh, Fleecy Cloud, will you 
cover the face of the star with snow, that the 
gray mouse may stop dancing, and the cricket 
stop fiddling, and the little girl may go to 
sleep"?” 

But the fleecy cloud, in a soft voice that 
sounded like the winds, said, ‘‘I have no snow. 
You must ask the frost to give me some.” 

So Santa Claus listened, and, snap, crackle, 
there was Jack Frost right beside him at work 
on the sides of the chimney. ‘‘Jack Frost,” 
said Santa Claus, “will you give the cloud some 
snow to cover the face of the Christmas star? 
Then the star will not shine for the gray mouse 
to dance, and the cricket will stop Addling, and 
the little girl will go to sleep. It is Christmas 
eve, and she is still awake.” 

“I will,” snapped back J ack Frost, who had 
just finished putting a coat of Christmas 
sparkle on the roof, and had hung a row of 
Christmas icicles to the eaves. 

So the frost filled the fleecy cloud with snow- 
flakes, and the snow covered the face of the 
star. Then the star stopped shining for the 


142 


MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 


gray mouse to dance, and the cricket put away 
his fiddle. It was quiet, and dark, and the 
snow fell, and fell, and fell. And Santa Claus 
crawled softly down the chimney and filled the 
stocking, and put the shut-eye doll in the chair 
beside the stocking, for the little girl was fast 
asleep. 


SANTA CLAUS AT CHRISTMAS COVE 

AM sure that we shall be able to keep 

A warm and comfortable here until 
spring/^ Father Brett said the day they moved 
into the bungalow by the sea at Christmas 
Cove. Father was a painter, and he was go¬ 
ing to paint a beautiful picture of the surf as 
it looked when it rolled up on the shore in 
December. 

^‘And there are all the cooking things that I 
can possibly need in the kitchen, and a nice 
little store in the village,” Mother Brett said 
tying on her apron. 

^‘Oh, it is so nice here,” Lucy Brett said, 
looking out of the big studio window, ‘‘only see 
all the green Christmas trees right out in the 
woods back of our house. We can have one of 
them for Christmas.” 

“Yes, and leUs go out and gather some pine 
cones in the sheltered places in the woods,” 
Billy Brett said. “They make a snapping 
noise when you burn them on an open fire.” 

“Oh, goodyt Let’s,” his sister exclaimed, 

143 


144 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

SO the two children put on their furry coats, 
their leggings, and their caps and mittens to 
start out. 

It was very still and a little dark there in the 
woods. Only a short distance from the house, 
they were not able to see it, for the old trees, 
evergreens mainly, shut them in like a wintry 
wall. There was no sound except the boom of 
the sea, and once in a while the chirp of a snow 
bird, and the snap, snap of frozen twigs. The 
snow creaked as they walked over it, digging 
it away to fill their basket with the cold, dry 
cones. 

^‘All it needs to make this the real Christmas 
country,’’ Lucy said, ‘‘is Santa Claus’ work 
shop.” She looked behind her, shivering a bit 
with the mystery of the winter woods. “We 
are all alone, Billy,” she said. “We might be 
way up in the North Land, instead of in 
Maine.” 

Billy laughed at her. “Santa Claus’ work 
shop! ” he said. ‘ ‘ There is none! ’ ’ 

But just then, taking a winding path be¬ 
tween the trees, and turning into a small clear¬ 
ing screened by the trees, they came upon it! 

Even Billy was breathless. How their 
hearts beat as they saw the cabin, the twist of 
gray smoke rising from the little chimney, 


MERRY HOLIDAY STORIES 145 

pushed open the unlocked door and went in¬ 
side! No one was in sight, but there was a 
long work bench strewed with tools and wooden 
animals partly carved, an elephant waiting to 
have his trunk curved, a duck with only his tail 
painted. The floor was deep strewn with shav¬ 
ings, and, oh, the shelves! 

There were all Santa Claus’ toys, waiting for 
his trip on the Eve of Christmas; carved 
wooden dolls that little girls would love to 
dress, Noah and the ark with all the animals 
walking up into it, wonderful sets of wooden 
dishes, birds with wings, ducks that would 
walk, everything! A regiment of carved 
wooden soldiers stood on dress parade, their 
uniforms bright with new paint. There were 
sailor men with oars in their hands, and beside 
them wooden sailing ships, little, but strong 
enough for long voyages. 

The children could hardly believe their eyes 
as they walked in a dream about Santa Claus’ 
work shop. Lucy stopped a second at the win¬ 
dow. Then she ran to Billy, clutching his arm 
as she whispered, ‘‘I just saw one of his rein¬ 
deer running away through the trees!” 

Before Billy could say anything, something 
strange happened in the shop. The toys came 
alive. The sailor men waved their oars, a duck 


146 


MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 


waddled along the shelf, the sails of a toy wind¬ 
mill flapped. There is no knowing what else 
might have happened if, just then, there had 
not come a low moan from a smaller room off 
the shop that they had not noticed before. 
Lucy went in, and then she came to the door, 
calling Billy. 

‘‘Santa Claus seems to be ill. He is in here, 
sick in bed,’’ she said. 

Billy saw him then, a little old man with a 
wrinkled face, and a long beard as white as the 
snow. He had a red and white patched quilt 
pulled up to his chin, and he pointed to the fire 
that had almost gone out in the fire place. 
Billy banked it with the cones, and piled on 
wood from Santa’s pile outside the cabin. 
Lucy put the tea kettle on and made him a cup 
of strong tea, and then Santa Claus told them 
all about it. 

Was he really Santa Claus*? Of course he 
was, as everyone is who helps make Christmas 
with love in his heart. He was an old, old 
sailor, who could not go to sea any longer, and 
made his beautiful toys there all alone in his 
little cabin in the woods for the city toy shops. 
He had wired them so that they would move 
when he pressed a button, and keep him com¬ 
pany. The wild creatures of the wood whom 


MERRY HOLIDAY STORIES 


147 


he fed, the deer, the rabbits, the squirrels and 
the birds, were his friends. But he was very 
ill with a cold, and they could not take care of 
him. 

But Mother Brett came and nursed Santa 
Claus so well that be was up and at his bench, 
making a ship for Billy, in three days. And 
he made a carved wooden doll for Lucy with 
arms and legs that would move. And Father 
Brett painted a beautiful picture of the old 
sailor in his shop of toys that sold for so much 
money in the city that Santa Claus was able 
to live in comfort among his wild little brothers 
of the woods, even when his hands were too old 
to carve toys. 


THE CHRISTMAS STOCKING 


T here was a very large family of them, 
Brother and Little Brother, and Sister 
and Little Sister, and the Old Baby, and the 
Little Baby who had come since last Christ¬ 
mas; and it didn’t seem possible to hang up all 
the stockings on Christmas Eve. 

^^But the Little Baby ought to have a Christ¬ 
mas stocking,” the Mother said. 

And the Old Baby will feel so disappointed 
if he doesn’t see his stocking hung up,” the 
Father said. 

‘‘Brother and Sister ought to hang up their 
stockings, because they always have every 
year,” the Mother said. 

“And Little Brother and Little Sister love 
to hang up their stockings,” the Grandmother 
said. 

Then the Grandmother had a beautiful 
Christmas thought. It was a secret, so she did 
not even whisper it up the chimney, but she 
asked all the family to bring their Christmas 
gifts to her room to hide them. 

148 




MERRY HOLIDAY STORIES 149 

The family had decided not to give as many 
Christmas gifts as usual this year because there 
were shoes, and flour, and coal to buy. But 
what gifts they had were very nice indeed. All 
the toys they could afford to get were for the 
two babies. There was a horse on wheels with 
a blanket for the Old Baby, and a worsted sol¬ 
dier for the Little Baby. There were balls and 
a jumping jack, and picture blocks to be di¬ 
vided between them. The Old Baby had a pair 
of red leggings, and the Little Baby had a blue 
hood. 

Big Brother was giving his large jack knife 
that had two blades to Little Brother, and Big 
Sister had dressed her best doll in new clothes 
to give to Little Sister. But Little Brother 
had emptied all the pennies out of his pig bank 
and had bought a box of pencils for Big 
Brother, and Little Sister had emptied all the 
pennies out of her tin bank that was shaped like 
a dolls’ house to buy a little sewing basket for 
Big Sister. Mother had knitted Father a new 
muffler, and Father had bought oranges and 
molasses sticks for everybody. And every¬ 
body had a gift for dear Grandmother, of 
course, a spectacle case, and a new red pin 
cushion, and a box of peppermint drops, and 
many other things. 


150 MEERY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

So all the gifts except those for Grand¬ 
mother were taken np to her room. The snow 
fell in the shape of Christmas stars, and the 
Christmas bells rang in all the church steeples. 
Then it was Christmas Eve, and after that it 
was Christmas morning. 

‘‘Merry Christmasshouted the whole fam¬ 
ily as soon as they woke up, and then they 
started for Grandmother’s room with her gifts. 
The Old Baby was able to walk all the way up 
the stairs, and the father carried the Little 
Baby. 

“Merry Christmas!” the whole family said 
to Grandmother, and then they all stood still 
in surprise. Hanging beside Grandmother’s 
fire place was a great big, bulging red Christ¬ 
mas stocking. Grandmother had made it from 
red fiannel, and the Christmas gifts for the 
whole family were inside. 

The toys for the Old Baby and the Little 
Baby were on top of the great Christmas stock¬ 
ing. The other gifts that the family were giv¬ 
ing each other filled the stocking down to the 
N^ery toe, with the oranges and molasses 
sticks in between and making the stocking 
bulge. 

The children gave Grandmother her Christ¬ 
mas gifts first, and then they took turns put- 


MERRY HOLIDAY STORIES 


151 


ting their hands in the stocking and pulling out 
a present. 

It was the best Christmas the family had 
ever had, with just one Christmas stocking! 


JOHNNY MOLASSES’ ADVENTURE 


M other and Polly and Peter made 
Johnny Molasses a few days before 
Christmas, just as Mother had made a candy 
boy with Grandmother when she was a little 
girl. First, he was boiled in a big kettle until 
he was soft, and sweet, and stringy. Then 
they pulled him until he was molasses taffy. 
Last, he was shaped into a little molasses boy 
with a round taffy head, a fat taffy body, two 
stout taffy legs, and two fat taffy arms. 

Polly made Johnny Molasses a warm muffler 
from some of the left-over taffy, and Peter 
made him taffy puttees neatly wound around 
his legs. 

“Now we must put him out in the snow to 
cool,” said Polly. 

“And mind you stay where you are put, 
Johnny!” Peter said, as he stood Johnny Mo¬ 
lasses out at the back door in a nice, cool snow 
bank. 

Johnny Molasses stood there in the snow on 
his taffy legs as bravely as he could, tied up in 

152 


MERRY HOLIDAY STORIES 


153 


his muffler. But he found it very uncomfort¬ 
able indeed, having begun life in a candy kettle 
over a bright, warm fire. At first his legs felt 
soft and limber, but they soon became hard and 
stiff, and he could not have run away no matter 
how much he had wanted to. And he did want 
to. Oh, how Johnny Molasses did want to run 
away from that snow bank! 

So, when the grocer’s boy came around to the 
back door with the Christmas turkey and the 
Christmas cranberries in his basket, Johnny 
watched for a chance. The grocer’s boy set 
his basket down in the snow bank in which 
Johnny was standing so deep down, and almost 
out of sight. Johnny was still able to stick, 
though, and so he stuck himself to the bottom 
of the grocer boy’s basket. And when the boy 
came out, whistling, and picked up the basket, 
along went Johnny Molasses for an adventure. 
And nobody knew that he was stuck to the bot¬ 
tom of that basket. 

The boy tossed the basket into the corner of 
the grocery with ever so many other baskets 
emptied of their Christmas goodies. It was 
crowded and unpleasant there, and J ohnny did 
not dare to stick to anything else for fear he 
would be discovered and sent back to the cold 
snow bank again. The corner where the has- 


154 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

kets were was near the stove, and Johnny be¬ 
gan to feel soft, as if he were going to break up. 
That, he knew, would be as bad as being too 
stiff, and he did not enjoy himself at all. 

All that afternoon and in the evening, until 
the lights in the grocery store were put out, 
J ohnny Molasses lay there, stuck to the basket, 
and getting sticky. But, with darkness, the 
fire burned low and the store was cold. It 
seemed as if tilings were going to be better for 
Johnny Molasses. 

But just as he thought this, he saw two great 
eyes, gleaming like large emeralds in the dark; 
and he felt himself taken from the corner by 
his muffler which was held tightly in the teeth 
of a monster in a gray fur coat. 

It was only the grocery cat, out on her 
nightly hunt for mice, and she did not like the 
taste of molasses any more than J ohnny liked 
to be carried in her mouth. She was just 
about to drop him when he saw something 
huge, and green and prickly. He made a great 
effort to get loose of the cat’s jaws, and stuck 
to it, and was safe. 

Johnny Molasses felt now as if he had lost 
himself in a huge forest. There was the smell 
of the woods all about him, and a brown cone 
lay beside him. It matched him nicely in 


MERRY HOLIDAY STORIES 155 

color, and he decided to stay right there and see 
what would happen next. Indeed, he could 
not have moved if he had wanted to, for he was 
stuck more tightly than he had been when he 
took the ride on the bottom of the market 
basket. And when morning came in the 
grocery store something did happen. Johnny 
Molasses and his forest began to move. 

It was all very strange. Peering out from 
his green hiding place, Johnny could see that 
he was being carried away on the back of the 
same grocer boy with whom he had arrived the 
day before. He could not see exactly where he 
was going, but that did not matter. Almost 
any place would be better than the store for 
spending Christmas. Johnny began to wonder 
if the snow bank had been so bad after all. 

On and on they went in the crisp, frosty out¬ 
doors, stopping at last, and going into a house. 
How cozy and warm the room was in which 
Johnny was now! All about him was green so 
he could see but little; still he could hear. All 
at once J ohnny Molasses heard PoUy, who had 
stirred him in his kettle, speak. 

‘‘Oh, Peter, do come here! Did you ever 
know of anything so strange ? Here, stuck to 
our Christmas tree, is Johnny Molasses.’’ 

Peter came running. “How did it happen? 


156 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

We thoTigM he was lost. Do come, Mother, 
here is Johnny Molasses again, but how did he 
get here?’’ 

Mother could not tell. ‘ ^ Strange things hap¬ 
pen at Christmas time,” she said. ‘MIe looks 
as if he had been for an adventure, a little 
twisted, and gnawed, and stretched out. Let 
us leave him here to trim the Christmas tree. 
He will look very well there among the 
branches.” 

^‘Oh, yes!” said Peter. 

‘‘We will,” said Polly, “and we will never 
eat him. We will keep Johnny Molasses a long 
time, because we came so near to losing him.’' 

So everything turned out very well for 
J ohnny Molasses. He kept Christmas, and he 
lived for a long time afterward, until he broke 
up from old age. 


THE PATCHWOEK SCHOOL 


O NCE upon a time there was a city which 
possessed a very celebrated institution 
for the reformation of unruly children. It 
was, strictly speaking, a Eeform School, but of 
a very peculiar kind. 

It had been established years before by a 
benevolent lady, who had a great deal of money 
and wished to do good with it. After thinking 
a long time, she had hit upon this plan of 
founding a school for the improvement of chil¬ 
dren who tried their parents and all their 
friends by their bad behaviour. More espe¬ 
cially was it designed for ungrateful and dis¬ 
contented children; indeed it was mainly com¬ 
posed of this class. 

There was a special set of police in the city, 
whose whole duty it was to keep a sharp look¬ 
out for ill-natured, fretting children, who com¬ 
plained of their parents’ treatment, and 
thought that other boys and girls were better 
off than they; and to march them away to the 
school. These police all wore white topped 
boots, tall peaked hats, and carried sticks with 

157 


158 


MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 


blue ribbon bows on them. Many a little boy 
on his way to school dodged round a corner to 
avoid one, because he had Just been telling his 
mother that another little boy’s mother gave 
him twice as much pie for dinner as he had. 
He wouldn’t breathe easily until he had left 
white topped boots out of sight; and he would 
tremble all day at every knock at the door. 

There was not a child in the city but had a 
great horror of this school, though it may seem 
rather strange that they should; for the 
punishment, at first thought, did not seem so 
very terrible. Ever since it was established, 
the school had been in charge of a very singu¬ 
lar little old woman. Nobody had ever heard 
where she came from. The benevolent lady 
who founded the institution had brought her 
to the door one morning in her coach, and the 
neighbors had seen the little, brown, wizened 
creature alight and enter, wearing a most ex¬ 
traordinary gown. This was all that anyone 
had known about her. In fact, the benevolent 
lady had come upon her in the course of her 
travels in a little German town, sitting in a 
garret window behind a small box-garden of 
violets, and sewing patchwork. After that, 
she became acquainted with her, and finally 
hired her to superintend her school. 


MERRY HOLIDAY STORIES 


159 


You see the benevolent lady had a very ten¬ 
der heart, and though she wanted to reform the 
naughty children of her native city, she did not 
want them to be shaken, nor have their ears 
culfed. So the ideas advanced by the strange 
little old lady just suited her. 

‘‘Set ’em to sewing patchwork,” said this 
little old woman, sewing patchwork vigorously 
herself as she spoke. 

She was dressed in a gown of bright-colored 
patchwork, with a patchwork shawl thrown 
over her shoulders. Her cap was made of tiny 
squares of patchwork, too. 

“If they are sewing patchwork,” went on 
the little old woman, “they can’t be in mischief. 
Just make ’em sit in little chairs and sew 
patchwork, boys and girls alike. Make ’em 
sit and sew patchwork when the bees are flying 
over the clover out in the bright sunlight, and 
the great blue-winged butterflies stop on the 
roses just outside the window, and the robins 
are singing in the cherry trees; they’ll turn 
over a new leaf, you’ll see.” 

So the school was founded, the strange little 
old woman placed at its head, and it worked 
admirably. It was the pride of the city. 
Strangers who visited it were always taken to 
see the Patchwork School, for that was the 


160 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

name it went by. There sat the children in 
their little chairs, sewing patchwork. They 
were dressed in little patchwork imifoirnis; the 
girls wore blue and white patchwork froeks 
and pink and white patchwork aprons, and the 
boys wore blue and white patchwork trousers 
and aprons like the girls’. Their cheeks were 
round and rosy, for they had plenty to eat— 
bread and milk three times a day—but they 
looked sad, and tears stood in the corners of 
a good many eyes. 

How could they help it ? It seemed as if the 
loveliest roses in the whole countr}^ were blos¬ 
soming in the garden of the Patchwork School, 
and there were swarms of humming birds fly¬ 
ing over them and great red and blue-winged 
butterflies. And there were tall cherry trees 
a little way from the window perfectly crimson 
with fruit. Later in the season there were ap¬ 
ples and peaches too, fairly dragging the 
branches to the ground, and all in plain sight 
of the school-room. No wonder the poor little 
culprits cooped up indoors, sewing red and blue 
and green pieces of calico together, looked sad. 
Everv day bales of calico were left at the door 
of the Patchwork School, and it all had to be 
cut into bits and then sewed together again. 

When the children heard the heavy tread of 


MERRY HOLIDAY STORIES 


161 


the porters bringing in the fresh bales of calico, 
the tears would leave the corners of their eyes 
and trickle down their poor little cheeks at the 
prospect of the additional work. All the 
patchwork had to be sewed over-and-over, and 
every crooked or too-long stitch had to be 
picked out, for the Patchwork Woman was 
very particular. The children had to make 
their own patchwork clothes, and after those 
were done, patchwork bedquilts which were 
given to the city poor. 

Of course, children stayed at the Patchwork 
School different lengths of time, according to 
their different offences. But there were very 
few children in the city who had not sat in a 
little chair and sewed patchwork at one time or 
another, for a greater or less period. Sooner 
or later, the best children were sure to think 
they were ill-treated by their parents, or did 
not have enough candy; and the police would 
hear them grumbling, and drag them off to the 
Patchwork School. The Mayor’s son, who 
might be supposed to fare as well as any little 
boy, had been in the school ever so many times. 

There was one little boy in the city, however, 
whom the white-booted police had not yet 
found any occasion to arrest, though one might 
have thought that he had more reason to com- 


162 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

plain than a good many others. In the first 
place, he had a girPs name, and any one knows 
what a cross that would be to a boy. His name 
was Julia. His parents had named him for an 
aunt, who had promised to leave her money to 
him if he were named for her. 

So there was no help for it, but it was a great 
trial to him, for the other boys plagued him un¬ 
mercifully, and called him sissy’’ and said 
‘‘she” instead of “he” to him. Still he never 
complained to his parents, saying that he 
wished he had been called by some other name. 
His parents were poor, hard-working people, 
and Julia had much coarser clothes than the 
other boys, but he was always cheerful about 
it, and never seemed to think it at all hard that 
he could not have a velvet coat like the Mayor’s 
son, or carry cakes to school for lunch as the 
lawyer’s son did. 

But perhaps the greatest cross that Julia had 
to bear, and the one from which he stood in the 
greatest danger of getting into the Patchwork 
School, was his grandmothers. I don’t mean 
to say that grandmothers are usually to be con¬ 
sidered as crosses. A dear old lady seated 
with her knitting beside the fire is a pleasant 
person to have in the house. But Julia had 
four, and he had to hunt for their spectacles. 


MERRY HOLIDAY STORIES 163 

and pick up their balls of yarn so much that he 
had very little time for play. 

It was an unusual thing, but the families on 
both sides were long-lived, and there actually 
were four grandmothers; two great ones, and 
two common ones; two on each side of the fire¬ 
place in Julia’s home. They were nice old 
ladies and Julia loved them dearly, but they 
lost their spectacles all the time, and were al¬ 
ways dropping their balls of yarn, and it did 
make a great deal of work for him. He could 
have hunted spectacles for one grandmother 
easily, but when it came to four; one was al¬ 
ways losing hers while he was finding an¬ 
other’s, and one ball of yarn would drop and 
roll off, while he was picking up another. 
Why, it was bewildering at times! Then he 
had to hold the skeins of yarn for them to 
wind, and his arms used to ache, and he could 
hear the other boys shouting at a game of ball. 
But Julia never refused to do anything his 
grandmothers asked him to. It was not on 
that account that he got into the Patchwork 
School. 

It was on Christmas Day that Julia was ar¬ 
rested and led away to the Patchwork School. 
It happened in this way. As I said before, 
Julia’s parents were poor, and it was all they 


164 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

could do to procure the bare comforts of life 
for their families; there was little to spend for 
knick-knacks. But I don’t think Julia would 
have complained of that. 

He had had the same things over and over, 
over and over, Christmas after Christmas. 
Every year each of his grandmothers knit him 
two pairs of blue woollen yam stockings, and 
hung them for him on Christmas Eve as a 
Christmas present. There they would hang— 
eight pairs of stockings with nothing in them 
in a row from the mantel shelf, every Christ¬ 
mas morning! 

Every year Julia thought about it for weeks 
before Christmas, and hoped and hoped that 
he might have something different, but there 
they always hung, and he had to go and kiss his 
grandmothers, and pretend that he liked the 
stockings better than any other present he 
might have had, for he would not have hurt 
their feelings for the world. 

His parents might have bettered matters a 
little, but they did not wish to cross the old 
ladies either, and they had to buy so much yarn 
that they could not afford anything else. 

The worst of it was, the stockings were knit 
so well, and of such stout material, that they 
almost never wore out, so Julia never really 


MERRY HOLIDAY STORIES 


165 


needed the new ones. His bureau drawers 
were full of the blue stockings rolled up in neat 
little hard balls—all the balls he had ever had 
—and the tears would come to his eyes when he 
looked at them. He never said a word about it 
until the Christmas when he was twelve years 
old. Somehow that Christmas he was unusu¬ 
ally cast down at the sight of the eight pairs of 
stockings hanging in a row under the mantel; 
but he kissed and thanked his grandmothers 
just as he always had. 

But when Julia was out on the street a little 
later, he sat down in a doorway and cried. He 
could not help it. Some of the other boys had 
such lovely presents, and he had nothing but 
those same blue woollen stockings. 

“What’s the matter, little boy?” asked a 
voice. 

Without looking up, Julia sobbed out his 
trouble; and what was his horror when he felt 
himself seized by the arm and lifted up, and 
found that he was in the grasp of a policeman 
in white-topped boots. The policeman did not 
mind Julia’s tears in the least, but led him 
away to the Patchwork School, waving his 
stick with the blue ribbon as majestically as a 
drum major. 

So Julia had to sit down in a little chair, and 


166 


MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 


sew patchwork with the rest. He did not mind 
the close work as much as some of the others, 
for he was used to being kept indoors attending 
to his grandmothers’ wants, but he disliked to 
sew. His term of punishment was a long one. 
The Patchwork Woman, who fixed it, thought 
it looked very badly for a little boy to complain 
because his kind grandparents had given him 
some warm stockings instead of foolish toys. 

The first thing the children had to do when 
they entered the school was to make their 
patchwork clothes. Julia had finished his and 
was busily sewing on a red and green patch- 
work quilt in a tea-chest pattern when, one day, 
the Mayor came to visit the school. Just then 
his son did not happen to be serving a term 
there; the Mayor never visited it with people of 
distinction when he was. 

Today he had a Chinese Ambassador with 
him. The Patchwork Woman sat behind her 
desk on the platform and sewed patchwork, the 
Mayor in his fine broadcloth sat on one side of 
her, and the Chinese Ambassador, in his yellow 
satin gown, on the other. 

The Ambassador’s name was To-Chum. 
The children could not help stealing glances oc¬ 
casionally at his high eyebrows and braided 


MERRY HOLIDAY STORIES 167 

queue, but they dropped their eyes on their 
sewing again directly. 

The Mayor and the Ambassador stayed about 
an hour; then after they had both made re¬ 
marks they rose to go. 

The door of the Patchwork School was of a 
peculiar nature. It was made of iron of a 
great thickness, and opened like any safe door 
only it had more magic about it than any safe 
door ever had. At a certain hour in the after¬ 
noon, it shut of its own accord, and it opened at 
a certain hour in the morning when the Patch- 
work Woman said a formula before it. The 
formula did no good whatever at any other 
time. The door was so constructed that not 
even its inventor could open it after it shut at 
the certain hour of the afternoon, before the 
certain hour the next morning. 

The Mayor and the Chinese Ambassador had 
stayed rather longer than they should have. 
They had been so interested in the school that 
they had not noticed how the time was going, 
and the Patchwork Woman was so taken up 
wdth a very intricate new pattern that she 
failed to warn them as was her custom. 

So it happened that while the Mayor got 
through the iron door safely, just as the Chi¬ 
nese Ambassador was following it suddenly 


168 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

swung to, and shut in his queue at a very high 
point. 

There was the Ambassador on one side of the 
(ioor, and his queue on the other, and the door 
could not possibly be opened before morning. 
Here was a terrible dilemma! What was to be 
done? There stood the children with their 
patchwork in their hands, staring, open- 
mouthed, at the queue dangling through the 
door, and the Patchwork Woman pale with dis¬ 
may, in their midst, on one side of the door; 
and on the other side was the terror-stricken 
Mayor and the poor Chinese Ambassador. 

‘‘Can nothing be done?’’ shouted the Mayor 
through the key-hole. It was a very large key¬ 
hole. 

“No,” the Patchwork Woman said, “The 
door will not open until six o’clock to-morrow 
morning.” 

“Oh, try it!” begged the Mayor. “Say the 
formula.” 

The Patchwork Woman‘said the formula to 
satisfy them, but the door remained firmly 
shut. Evidently the Chinese Ambassador 
would have to stay where he was until morn¬ 
ing, unless he had the Mayor snip off his queue, 
which was not to be thought of. 

So the Mayor, who was something of a phil- 


MERRY HOLIDAY STORIES 


169 


osopher, set about accommodating himself, or 
rather his friend, to the situation. 

‘^It is inevitable,’’ he told the Ambassador. 
‘‘I am very sorry, but everybody has to con¬ 
form to the customs of the institutions of the 
countries they visit. I will go and get you 
some dinner, and an extra coat. I will keep 
you company through the night, and morning 
will come before you know it.” 

‘‘Well,” sighed the Chinese Ambassador, 
standing on tiptoe so his queue should not pull 
too hard. He was a patient man, but after he 
had eaten his dinner the time seemed terribly 
long. 

“Why don’t you talk?” he asked the Mayor, 
who was dozing behind him in an easy chair. 
“Can’t you tell me a story?” 

“I never did such a tiling in my life,” re¬ 
plied the Mayor, rousing himself, “but perhaps 
the Patchwork Woman c^n.” 

So he asked the Patchwork Woman through 
the key-hole. 

“I never did such a thing in my life,” she 
said, “but there is a boy here that I heard tell¬ 
ing a beautiful one the other day. Here, 
Julia,” she called, “come and tell a story to 
the Chinese Ambassador.” 

Julia knew a great many stories that his 


170 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

grandmothers had taught him, and he sat on a 
stool and told them through the key-hole all 
night to the Chinese Ambassador. 

He and the Mayor were so interested that 
morning came and the door swung open before 
they knew it. The poor Ambassador drew a 
long breath, and put his hand to his queue to 
see if it was safe. Then he wanted to reward 
the boy who had made the long night hours 
pass so pleasantly. 

‘‘Why is he here?” asked the Mayor, pat¬ 
ting Julia, who could hardly keep his eyes 
open. 

“He grumbled about his Christmas pres¬ 
ents,” replied the Patchwork Woman. 

“What did you have?” asked the Mayor. 

“Eight pairs of yarn stockings,” said Julia, 
rubbing his eyes. 

“And the year before?” 

“Eight pairs of blue yarn stockings.” 

‘ ‘ And the year before that ? ’ ’ 

“Eight pairs of blue yarn stockings.” 

“Didn’t you ever have anything for Christ¬ 
mas except blue yarn stockings?” asked the 
astonished Mayor. 

“No, sir,” said Julia. 

Then the whole story came out. Julia, by 
dint of questioning, told some, and the other 


MERRY HOLIDAY STORIES 


171 


children told the rest; and, finally, in the after¬ 
noon, orders came to dress him in his own 
clothes and send him home. 

But when he got there, the Mayor and the 
Chinese Ambassador had been there first. 
There hung the eight pairs of blue yarn stock¬ 
ings under the mantel, crammed full of the 
most wonderful presents—knives, balls, candy 
—everything he had wanted, and the mantel 
shelf was piled high, too. 

A great many of the presents were of 
Chinese manufacture. There was one stock¬ 
ing entirely filled with curious Chinese toys. 
A little round head, so much like the Ambassa¬ 
dor’s that it actually startled Julia, peeped 
out of the stocking. But it was only a top in 
the shape of a little man in a yellow silk gown, 
who could spin around very successfully on one 
foot, for an astonishing length of time. There 
was a Chinese lady-top too, who fanned herself 
as she spun; and a mandarin who nodded 
wisely. The tops were enough to turn a boy’s 
head. 

There were equally curious things in the 
other stockings. Some of them Julia had no 
use for, such as silk for dresses, China crepe 
shawls, and carved fans, but they were just the 
things for his grandmothers, who, after this. 


172 


MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 


sat beside the fireplace, very prim and fine, 
in stiff silk gowns, China crepe shawls over 
their shoulders, Chinese fans in their hands, 
and queer shoes on their feet. Julia liked 
their presents just as well as he did his own, 
and probably the Ambassador knew that he 
would. 

The Mayor had filled one stocking himself 
with bonbons, and Julia* picked out all the 
peppermints from them for his grandmothers. 
They were very fond of peppermints. Then 
he went to work to find their spectacles which 
had been lost ever since he had been away. 


FOUR-LEGGED SAINT VALENTINE 


I T was a very pretty vajentine! It opened 
out like a little window, showing under¬ 
neath pink roses, blue forget-me-nots, and red 
hearts. All around the edge were lace paper 
ruffles. Philip put it carefully into its en¬ 
velope, sealed it, addressed it with his father’s 
fountain pen, and then left it there on the desk. 
The postman would be in the big office build¬ 
ing soon on his rounds collecting and he would 
take the valentine with father’s mail. 

‘‘You may use my fountain pen and my desk 
whenever Miss Barnes thinks best,” Philip’s 
father had said, which was a great honor, and 
because Philip was careful with ink and 
papers. He went down to his father’s office 
often after school. If Father was out on busi¬ 
ness, Miss Barnes, his secretary, was very nice 
to Philip. She looked up now from her type¬ 
writer and spoke to the little boy. “Who is 
the beautiful valentine for, Philip?” 

‘ ‘ My cousin, Molly, ’ ’ Philip said. “ You see 
Molly is visiting us, and I wanted her to have 

173 


174 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

a valentine from me through the mail. I 
bought it with my own money; it cost twenty- 
five cents. I am mailing it here so the post¬ 
man will deliver it at our house.” 

^‘What a thoughtful little boy you are,” Miss 
Barnes said, ‘‘I am going out to lunch now, but 
just leave it there on top of the other letters 
and the postman will come right in and find it 
while we are out. Are you going home too? 
Then we will go down in the elevator to¬ 
gether.” 

Ting-a-ling^ ting-a-ling went the bell on the 
morning of Saint Valentine’s Day. Her eyes 
as bright as stars, Molly went to the door and 
she came back with her hands full of large en¬ 
velopes with red hearts on the outside. 

^‘Pive for you, and one, two, four, six for 
me,” Molly shouted as she gave Philip his 
valentines. Philip did not open his envelopes 
at once, for he was so anxious for Molly to find 
his rose and forget-me-not and lace paper one, 
but one after the other Molly pulled out her 
bright valentines and Philip’s was not there. 

It seemed very strange. Philip had sent it 
three days ahead of time so as to be sure that 
it would come in the first mail on Saint Valen¬ 
tine’s Day. It was too bad. He couldn’t 
speak of it either, for perhaps it might come in 


MERRY HOLIDAY STORIES 175 

the afternoon. Molly had so many valentines 
that she did not miss it; that made it all the 
harder. 

So Philip decided to go down to the office 
after lunch and tell Miss Barnes the mystery. 
All the office mail went regularly; of course, it 
had to! He could be quite sure of that. 

On the way up in the elevator, Philip saw a 
little girl, a little girl in an old dress but with 
shining eyes. In her hands she had a pretty 
rose and forget-me-not lace paper valentine 
just like Philip’s lost one. ‘‘Look, Tim,” she 
was saying to the elevator man, “how fine, and 
the only valentine I ever got!” 

“Now, isn’t that grand!” said Tim, the 
elevator man, “and who sent it to the little 
lady?” 

“Saint Valentine, Tim,” said the little girl 
with more star-shine in her eyes. 

Philip had almost snatched it out of her 
hand. He knew it was his, for it had been the 
only one just like that in the shop on the cor¬ 
ner. But the happy eyes of the girl had 
stopped his hands. And when he reached his 
father’s office, everything was excitement. 

Father, the postman, a bigger boy than 
Philip, and Miss Barnes were all talking at 
once. 


176 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

^^Well, it is all right as long as it turned out 
this way, ’ ’ Father said. 

‘‘It happened when I went out to lunch,” 
Miss Barnes said. 

“So of course it wasn’t my fault,” said the 
postman. 

“Please forgive him,” said the boy. “I let 
him out of my sight only a minute, and he 
thought that he was doing his duty. You see, 
sir, he was taught to carry letters for the Red 
Cross; he seemed to know the color red on a 
message.” 

Father smiled. “It is all right,” he re¬ 
peated, “as long as everyone who picked up 
one of my letters posted it. You say that he 
left the marks of his teeth on the envelopes 
when he dropped the letters in the hall?” 
Father chuckled. “Bring in the culprit,” he 
said then. 

Philip could hardly believe his eyes. The 
boy whistled, and in from the hall came a 
shaggy little dog wearing a medal for bravery 
around his neck, but hanging his head because 
he had just been scolded. Philip couldn’t 
stand it any longer. He ran to the dog and 
put his hand on his head. Now he knew the 
secret! 

“It’s all my fault, dad,” he said. “I ad- 


MERRY HOLIDAY STORIES 177 

dressed a valentine and left it on top of your 
pile of letters. Miss Barnes remembers. I 
believe the dog thought the big red heart on the 
outside meant that it was an important mes¬ 
sage, didn’t you, old sport?” As if he knew, 
the dog almost wriggled out of his tattered coat 
with joy. ‘‘But the valentine didn’t go,” 
Philip went on in wonder. “Do you think 
any one could have taken it?” 

“How did you address it, son?” asked Miss 
Barnes. She knew about a little boy’s first let¬ 
ters. 

Philip thought a while. Then he hung his 
head. “I think I only wrote, ‘For Molly,’ on 
it,” he said. “What is the name of the little 
girl whose mother cleans the offices ?” he asked. 

“Molly,” said the boy with the dog. “I’ve 
seen her dusting my dad’s office after her 
mother cleans it.” 

“Saint Valentine!” Philip thought. “I 
won’t tell her that he had four legs, though.” 


THE SUGAR EGG 


T here was a very important proclamation 
on the gate of the king’s palace, and this 
was what it said: 

‘‘The king wishes a new and different kind 
of Easter egg for the prince and the princess. 
It must be brought to the palace on Easter Eve, 
and there will be a prize for it if it pleases their 
royal highnesses. If it is like all the former 
Easter eggs, the subject who brings it will be 
banished.” 

Now whoever heard of anything so absurd? 
Every one in the kingdom, down to the most 
humble subject, knew their royal highnesses, 
the Prince Particular and the Princess Per¬ 
haps. Not that those were their real names, 
but whenever the prince was asked if he liked 
a new toy or game, he would say, “Oh, not 
particularly,” and then he would turn up his 
nose. And if you asked the princess if she 
would like to play something quite merry, she 
was very apt to say, “Oh, perhaps,” with a 
toss of her head which meant that she did not 
care whether she did or not. 

178 


MERRY HOLIDAY STORIES 


179 


Of course, every Easter in the past, their 
royal highnesses had hunted for colored eggs 
on the palace grounds, and had large chocolate 
eggs made for them in the palace kitchen, and 
eaten pheasants’ eggs for breakfast on Easter 
Day. How, in the entire kingdom, would it 
be possible to hatch a new and different egg for 
them? It could not be done. All the hens 
hung their heads in despair, and all the farm¬ 
ers expected to be banished from the kingdom 
on Easter Monday. 

But it was not a place of giving up, and in 
spite of their being so hard to please, their sub¬ 
jects loved the Prince Particular and the Prin¬ 
cess Perhaps. So whoever read that strange 
proclamation on the palace gate went home 
with the wish to find just the kind of Easter 
egg for which the king had asked. And a 
great many people went to work trying to make 
one. 

It was funny, though, the way in which they 
went about it. 

There was the baker. He decided to put 
several dozen eggs into a huge, egg-shaped 
cake, so he whisked them up as light as foam, 
mixed them with flour and other good things, 
and made a great cake which he frosted with 
white to look like the biggest egg ever made. 


180 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

On top he put the royal crest in yellow icing. 
But what a very indigestible Easter egg this 
one was! 

And there was. the toy man. He made a 
mammoth egg shaped toy dirigible of white 
rubber, and large enough for their royal high¬ 
nesses to take a short trip over the palace tree 
tops and as far as the sea. It was just like a 
giant egg, but so costly and made with such 
pains that the toy man had to neglect carving 
the little wooden dolls and animals which the 
peasant boys and girls loved so much to buy 
at his shop. 

There, also, was the jewel cutter. He cut 
two clear, white diamonds in the shape of tiny 
eggs, one for the prince to wear as a pin in his 
scarf, and the other for the princess to hang 
on a golden chain about her neck. But they 
only sparkled and sent out darts of light; to 
touch, they were as cold as the winter that had 
just passed. 

So on Easter Eve there was a crowd of the 
king’s subjects at the entrance to the palace, 
each with his or her odd Easter egg. They 
were carved of wood, and shaped of gold and 
silver, painted in all the colors of the rainbow, 
and some of them so large that they had to be 
drawn in carts up to the gates. 


MERRY HOLIDAY STORIES 181 

And on the edge of the crowd came Mother 
Joy who lived all alone in a tiny cottage on 
the border of the forest. She had very little 
comfort of her own, but all the children knew 
and loved her. Such barley sugar candy 
sticks as Mother Joy made for them, and she 
could show them the first young magpies, the 
first cowslips, and where the fresh cress grew 
in the brook! But, in spite of this, it was 
strange that Mother Joy should be here at the 
gate of the palace on Easter Eve, so poor, and 
so old. And when people spoke of it, Mother 
Joy only smiled an odd smile and hid some¬ 
thing in her apron. 

So all the new and different eggs were taken 
into the palace throne room to be judged, while 
the subjects waited outside. But the egg bal¬ 
loon had to be tied to the palace chimney, and 
everyone was sure that it would take the prize. 
They waited and waited. Then, suddenly, 
there came the sound of their royal highnesses 
laughing more merrily then they ever had be¬ 
fore, and everyone was called in to see the 
prize giving. 

Such a surprise! On a purple velvet pillow 
in the lap of the king, the prince and princess 
and all the court crowded around it, was a lit¬ 
tle hollow sugar egg. It had a piece of glass 


182 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

fitted in the end like a fairy window, and in¬ 
side, made of scraps of colored tissue paper 
and lace and grasses, there was a wee house, 
a green meadow with flowers and children at 
play in it. The spring, as it comes in the 
country, was there inside the little sugar egg, 
seen through the fairy window in the end. 

“The prize winning egg!’’ cried the king, 
holding up the sugar egg. “Their royal high¬ 
nesses have never been so happy in their lives 
with any Easter egg before. They want to go 
right out into the fields and play. Eiches and 
a coronet for the maker! ’ ’ 

And Mother Joy in her apron came up to 
the throne, for she had known what to bring to 
the palace on Easter Eve, that little picture of 
the spring with a fairy window to see it 
through. 

It happened that all the eggs won prizes of 
one sort and another. But the best of all was 
the little sugar egg. They became the fashion 
in the kingdom and we have had them ever 
since. 


WHAT HAPPENED ON APRIL FIRST 


‘ ‘T^EAR me/’ said Grandmother Brewster, 
''this is the first day of April, and I am 
almost afraid to go down to the breakfast 
table.” 

And when Grandmother Brewster sat down 
to breakfast there was something in front of 
her plate, all covered up with a big, white paper 
dunce’s cap. 

"Now, I know I am afraid,” she said as she 
heard Billy and Dolly Brewster chuckling over 
their bowls of porridge. 

"Lift up the cap. Grandmother,” they said. 

So Grandmother Brewster did, bravely. 

Oh, what a surprise! There, underneath, 
was a red fiower pot and in the pot was a red 
tulip for Grandmother. 

"April Fool!” shouted Billy and Dolly. 

"Oh, dear,” said Grandfather Brewster, as 
Billy brought him in the morning newspaper, 
neatly folded, "this is the first day of April 
and I am almost afraid to open this paper.” 

Billy and Dolly stood on each side of Grand¬ 
father Brewster’s chair, trying to look very 
sober. 


183 


184 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

‘‘Open it, Grandfather/^ they said excitedly. 

Grandfather Brewster pretended to shake 
all over with fear, but he opened the paper. 

Oh, what a surprise! Folded inside the 
newspaper was a new spectacle case that Dolly 
had made for him. 

“April Fool!’^ shouted Billy and Dolly. 

Then it was supper time, and Dolly and Billy 
came very slowly into the dining room. 

“This is the first day of April,they said. 
“We are almost afraid to sit down to supper.’’ 

There in front of Grandmother’s place was 
a big pile of thick pancakes. In front of 
Dolly’s plate was a fat chocolate drop. In 
front of Billy’s plate was another fat choco¬ 
late drop. Grandmother put the pancakes and 
ever so much maple syrup on the plates. 

“Flannel cakes!” Dolly whispered to Billy. 

“Do eat our party supper,” said Grand¬ 
mother, so Billy bravely cut his pancakes and 
ate a mouthful, and Dolly nibbled her choco¬ 
late drop. 

Oh, what a surprise! There never was any 
one who could make such good pancakes as 
Grandmother Brewster. And inside each of 
the chocolates was a red cherry. 

“April Fool!” laughed Grandmother and 
Grandfather Brewster. 


HOW GEANDPA BUSHY PILLED THE 
MAY BASKET 


G erald looked carefully up and down the 
street to see that no one was looking. 
Then he took from under his coat the May 
basket that he had filled for his school friend, 
Marjorie, and went softly up the steps of her 
piazza. It was the eve of May Day and he 
wanted her to find it the first thing in the morn¬ 
ing. He hung it on the tip of the big brass 
knocker and ran home. 

‘H want Marjorie’s May basket to be differ¬ 
ent from any other that I make,” Gerald had 
said to his mother. So Mother had helped him 
to make it very, very different, and very, very 
nice. Marjorie had brought Gerald one of her 
books or games every day when he had that 
bad cold in the winter. That was why he was 
so particular about her May basket. 

Any little girl would have loved it. It was 
made of a tiny market basket that Mother had 
bought at a favor store. Inside, on the gay, 
tissue paper lining, were some red and white 

185 


186 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

peppermint drops, some scalloped cookies with 
pink frosting, and some sugar almonds. On 
the tip top of the May basket lay a real ginger¬ 
bread man with two legs, two arms, two raisins 
for eyes, and ever so many currants for the 
buttons of his brown coat. 

No wonder that Gerald could hardly wait for 
the morning of May day to go over to Mar¬ 
jorie’s house and see how she liked her May 
basket! 

Right after breakfast Gerald went to Mar¬ 
jorie’s block and walked down the street until 
he came to her house. Perhaps she would be 
out on the steps waiting for him, but, no. 
Then Gerald saw a very strange thing. There 
hung the May basket just where he had put it 
on the part of the brass knocker that stuck out. 
It had not been touched. 

Gerald could see into the dining room, for it 
had a bay window, and Marjorie sat at the 
table with three May baskets around her plate, 
flowery baskets. So of course she had been 
out on the piazza to get them but she had not 
taken his. That was strange! Probably she 
didn’t like it because there were no flowers in 
it, Gerald thought, and he felt very badly. If 
only Marjorie had lifted the fringed tissue 
paper that covered the gingerbread boy! 


MERRY HOLIDAY STORIES 187 

Gerald had just decided sadly to go home, 
when the front door opened and Marjorie’s 
father hurried out. He was going to take the 
eight forty-five train and he had very little 
time, but he noticed the May basket. He 
touched it, and then he did a very odd thing. 
He seemed startled and it almost seemed as if 
he jumped. But he had to hurry and he came 
down the steps looking plainly puzzled. He 
saw Gerald. 

“Good morning, neighbor,” he said. 
“There seems to be something alive in that 
May basket.” 

Something alive! Now Gerald understood 
why Marjorie had not taken it in. She was 
afraid. And of course Gerald knew who was 
alive in the May basket. It was the ginger¬ 
bread man, who always came alive in stories, 
but whom Gerald had never known to do it in 
real life before. He could hardly believe it, 
but Marjorie’s father called back, “It moves.” 
And as Gerald went up the piazza steps, not 
all the way, but only to the third step, he saw 
the basket give a little stir. It seemed to 
wriggle. 

Gerald went down the steps again, and 
around to the back of the house. Marjorie 
came out just then, and she seemed so glad to 


188 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

see Gerald. ‘^Was it you who hung the May 
basket on the knockershe asked. 
found it the first thing, and I didn’t tell any 
one about it. You saw him, of course, if you 
were up on the piazza just now. I think it 
was dear of you, Gerald. I just left it there, 
for I couldn’t bear to disturb him. He is hav¬ 
ing the most happy time.” 

Gerald rubbed his head to see if it were 
really he or some other boy. Marjorie seemed 
to be talking about the gingerbread boy. 
^‘Having a good time,” he repeated half to 
himself what she had just said. 

‘ ‘ Yes, ” Mar j orie told him. ‘ ^ He was eating 
the sugar almonds when I saw him last. He 
seemed to just love them, even if his teeth are 
not very good.” 

Gerald gasped. Of course the teeth of a 
gingerbread man wouldn’t be very strong, and 
strange things were said to happen on the eve 
of May Day, fairies coming, and all that. But 
this was the morning of the first of May, and 
he was not dreaming. ‘H’ll go and see,” Ger¬ 
ald said, starting bravely toward the front of 
the house. 

Marjorie ran too, warning him, ‘‘Don’t scare 
him, Gerald,” she said. “I love the May 


MERRY HOLIDAY STORIES 


189 


basket, but I would rather he had it than I, 
for he is enjoying it so.” 

Up the steps, two at a time, Gerald went to 
see the gingerbread man eating sugar almonds. 
He grasped the May basket, and almost into 
his face jumped a little man, not in brown, but 
in gray, and scampered off down the la^vn. 

‘‘Nowyou have frightened him away,” Mar¬ 
jorie said, “old Grandpa Bushy, who climbed 
up the pillar of the front door and jumped over 
into the basket. He thought it was for him 
on account of smelling the nuts. Poor 
Grandpa!” But she laughed as she saw only 
crumbs and chewed paper left in the basket. 
“I think he had all the May breakfast that he 
needed,” she said. 

Gerald sat down on the steps, holding his 
sides, for he was laughing so. He held the 
nibbled head of the gingerbread man. 
Grandpa Bushy was the old squirrel that had 
lived in one of Marjorie’s trees for ever so 
many seasons. He had filled the May basket 
and emptied it, too. 


THE BIRTHDAY STICK 


T he fairy godmother arrived very early 
at the christening party of the Little 
Prince Halwyn. She wore a new red petticoat 
and black cloak, and a larger black cat than she 
had ever been seen with before sat on her 
shoulder. 

^‘The fairy godmother has brought the 
prince a chest of gold, no doubt, or a wishing 
ring, or a crown set with jewels,” the guests 
whispered to one another and they crowded as 
close as they could to the place where the 
Queen held his Royal Highness in her arms. 

Something strange happened. The Fairy 
Godmother took from under her cloak a birth¬ 
day present for the Prince, and what do you 
think it was—^why, nothing but a stick. 

It was not a fat candy stick, or a hobby horse 
stick, or even a young broom stick from the 
Fairy Godmother’s stables that might grow 
up into a valuable flying broom some day. It 
was a plain, straight stick with a few notches 
cut in it, and the Fairy Godmother said as she 
presented it to the Queen: 

190 


MERRY HOLIDAY STORIES 191 

gift to Prince Halwyn, my dear. 
Stand it just outside of the nursery door and 
see to it that no one carries it away.” 

Then she took her departure, and all the 
guests said to one another that she must be 
growing stingy. But the Queen, who always 
did what the fairy godmother told her, be¬ 
cause she had been her Fairy Godmother, too, 
stood the notched stick up outside the nursery 
door and sighed as she did so. 

‘^Perhaps the Fairy Godmother will come 
for Halwyn’s next birthday,” she said, ‘‘and 
bring him a different kind of a gift. ” But she 
did not come, or for the birthday after that, or 
for the next, and Prince Halwyn began to 
grow up into a boy. 

“What a funny stick,” he said the day he 
was five years old and stood beside it before 
he went down to his birthday party, “but my 
head is a little ways above this notch,” he said. 

The Queen smiled. “That is the fifth 
notch,” she said. “It must be that you are 
beyond it because you eat so much bread and 
milk and run about in the fresh air every day.” 

Prince Halw}m thought about this, and when 
the party feast was spread he decided to eat 
only one piece of birthday cake, and only one 
piece of candy, and only a very small portion 


192 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

of sweetmeats. For a whole year he ate bread 
and butter when he really was hungry for 
candied rose leaves, and mashed potato when 
he wanted broiled peacock’s breast. And he 
ran races and played ball with the Court 
Gardener’s little boy instead of sitting by the 
castle fireplaces and playing with his hundred 
toys alone. 

One day the Court Gardener’s little boy fell 
down when they were running a race and he 
hurt himself so that he could not walk. 

‘‘I’ll carry you home on my back,” Prince 
Halwyn said; and he did, although the boy was 
only a little smaller than he. 

Then he was six years old, and he decided to 
measure himself by his fairy godmother’s 
stick. Why, he was taller than the sixth 
notch! 

“That must be because you are so strong,” 
his mother, the Queen said. “Strength makes 
you grow fast for a boy of your age.” 

Prince Halwyn thought about this, and al¬ 
though he was rather afraid of the wild little 
pony that was his birthday gift, he learned to 
ride and gallop on it. He learned to swim and 
to shoot an arrow as straight as any of the 
huntsmen. He could win in a race with any 
of the older pages, and he had stout muscles 


MERRY HOLIDAY STORIES 193 

in his arms and legs, and held his head very 
high. 

One day there was a Court procession and 
the King and the Queen and Prince Halwyn, 
dressed in velvet and ermine, rode in a golden 
chariot at the head of the procession, and fol¬ 
lowing them came the messengers and the musi¬ 
cians and the soldiers and the guards. It was 
a noble company and all the village turned out 
to see it; they lined the roadside, and pushed 
close to the horse’s feet. Among them was a 
little girl who had a nosegay for the Queen. 
It was a small nosegay, made of the flowers 
that had grown in the window of a poor 
kitchen. And although there was a cold wind 
blowing, the little girl had scarcely enough 
clothing to keep her warm. But she made her 
way through the crowd and threw her nosegay 
right into the Queen’s lap; all her life she had 
wanted to do something for the dear Queen. 

‘‘Wait a minute,” Prince Halwyn said, and 
the royal chariot stopped. The Prince jumped 
out, and taking off his cloak he wrapped it 
around the little girl who had none. 

Then the procession went back to the castle, 
for it was the Prince’s birthday. He was 
seven years old. 

“I must measure myself,” he said, “before 


194 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

the party begins/’ Oh, he was way, way be¬ 
yond the seventh notch. 

‘‘That must be because you are so healthy, 
and strong, and also a gallant boy,” his mother 
said, as they went down to the throne room 
together. “Why, here is the Fairy God¬ 
mother,” she said. 

Sure enough, there she was, and asking for 
her birthday stick. When they brought it to 
her, she measured Prince Halwyn by the 
notches, and then nodded her head in a pleas¬ 
ant way. 

Then she took from under her cloak a chest 
of gold, and a wishing ring, and a crown set 
with jewels and gave them to Prince Halwyn. 

“You are growing into a king so fast that 
you will need these,” she said. “And give me 
the stick; I may want it for some other boy.” 


THE CEOW-BIDDY 


O NCE upon a time there were a man and 
his wife who, one fine morning, found an 

egg. 

‘‘Well,^’ said the wife, ‘‘wait until it is 
hatched, and we will see what a beautiful bird 
will come from it!’^ 

But when the egg was hatched, what did 
they have? A great Chicken, and a very 
naughty one. But the man and his wife said, 
“O WHAT A LOVELY BIRD!” 

And the chicken began to crow and make a 
dreadful noise. And the man said, 

“How SWEETLY OUR DEAR BIRD SINGS 
And when this Crow-Biddy snatched every¬ 
thing on the dinner-table, and spilled the 
cream, the good wife said, 

“What an appetite the dear thing has!” 
And when the Crow-Biddy tore up his 




196 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

school-books and threw them away afterward, 
they said, 

‘‘Why, our pet knows everything!” 

And when he broke all the plates and the 
other dishes, they said, 

“How LIVELY the DEAR THING IS!” 

After a while the Crow-Biddy beat the man 
with his spurs, but he only said, 

“How STRONG AND BOLD HE IS GROWING!” 
One day the Crow-Biddy went into the street, 
and threw stones at the lamps and windows. 
And then along came a soldier, and caught him 
by his red comb, and locked him up in a prison. 
And this time the man and his wife said noth¬ 
ing. They felt really quite relieved. 


THE LITTLE TAR MAH 


O NCE upon a time, in the days when the 
animals could talk and lived together 
just like real people, there were a Fox, and 
an old Coon, and an old Rabbit who were neigh¬ 
bors. 

Now the Fox had a very fine patch of goo¬ 
bers, which were just the same as peanuts, only 
not roasted, and he cared more for his goober 
patch than he did for all the rest of his farm. 
But one morning when the Fox was going 
around his farm to see how the sweet potatoes 
and all the rest of his vegetables were growing, 
he saw tracks. So he followed the tracks and 
he found out something. The tracks led right 
straight to his goober patch, and the Fox knew 
that some one had been grabbing his goobers. 

The Fox kept watch the next morning, and 
the next, and the next, and every day after 
that. Every day he saw the tracks leading to 
his goober patch, but he never was able to 
catch anybody. One day when the old Coon 
was out looking at his corn patch, the Fox 
spoke to him. 


197 


198 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

‘‘Neighbor Coon,’’ he said, “I see tracks 
leading to my goober patch.” 

The old Coon thought a minute and then he 
said to the Fox, “Maybe it might be old Rab¬ 
bit who was going down to your goober patch,” 
said he. 

The Fox turned what old Coon had said over 
and over in his mind, and the more he thought 
about it the more sure he was that old Coon 
was right. So he laid a plan to fix old Rabbit. 
The Fox stirred up a big bucket of tar, and 
when the tar was nice and soft, he made a little 
man out of it. Then he stood the little Tar 
Man in the middle of his goober patch. 

That very night, by the full of the moon, old 
Rabbit sneaked out of his farm house and made 
tracks, just as he always had, for the Fox’s 
goober patch. He had a fine appetite for 
goobers, did old Rabbit. And there in the 
light of the moon, old Rabbit saw the little 
Tar Man standing up in the middle of the goo¬ 
ber patch. 

Old Rabbit thought that it was someone come 
to steal goobers, so he called out as loudly as 
he could, “Who’s that in the middle of neigh¬ 
bor Fox’s goober patch?” But the little Tar 
Man did not say a word. So old Rabbit lost 
his temper, and he went into the goober patch, 


MERRY FOLK TALES 


199 


lippity, lippity, lip, just as fast as he could and 
he called out, “What do you mean, you little 
black man, by not speaking back when I speak 
to you'?” And with that, he doubled up his 
paw and hit the Tar Man in the side of his 
head, and his paw stuck fast. 

This made old Eabbit madder than he was 
before, so he doubled up his other paw. “You 
better let me loose, you little black man,” old 
Rabbit said, “I have another paw,” and with 
that he hit the Tar Man on the other side of his 
head, and his other paw stuck fast. 

“Look here!” old Rabbit said, getting mad¬ 
der and madder every minute as he tried to pull 
loose and stuck fast in the tar, “I’ll teach you 
to treat a Rabbit like that. What do you 
think I’ve got two feet for?” And with that 
old Rabbit kicked the Tar Man, hum, with his 
left hind foot, and his foot stuck. “I’ve got 
another foot left,” shouted old Rabbit, and 
with that he kicked the Tar Man, hum, with his 
right foot, and it stuck too. 

“Now you’ll see what is going to happen to 
you!” shouted old Rabbit, who could not have 
been any more angry than he was then, all 
stuck up with tar. “I’m going to butt you!” 
And with that, he butted the little Tar Man 
with his head as hard as he could, and his head 


200 


MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 


stuck. So old Rabbit was all stuck, his head, 
his back feet, and his front feet, to the little 
Tar Man. He couldn’t say a word or move, 
and after a while along came the Fox in the 
full of the moon. He picked up old Rabbit 
and carried him home. 

Old Coon was out enjoying the moon on his 
corn patch, and the Fox called to him, ‘‘Come 
along over, neighbor Coon?” said the Fox, 
“and see who I caught in my goobers!” 

So old Coon came along over, and when he 
saw old Rabbit all stuck up with tar, he said to 
the Fox, “Now we’ve got that thief just where 
we want him. I’ll tell you what we will do.” 
Then old Coon took the Fox oft into a corner 
and he whispered to him, “We’ll give him his 
choice whether he wants to be cut up for stew, 
or thrown into the brier patch. And if he says 
he’d like to be stewed, then we’ll throw him into 
the briers; and if he says briers, then we’ll cut 
him up for stew.” The Fox thought that this 
was a fine plan of old Coon’s and they went 
back to tell old Rabbit about it. 

“Which would you rather do for stealing 
my goobers?” the Fox asked old Rabbit, “be¬ 
cause we are surely going to do one thing or 
the other to you. Would you like to be thrown 


MERRY FOLK TALES 201 

into the briers, or would you rather be cut up 
for stew?” 

Then old Rabbit raised his voice and pleaded 
with his neighbors, the Fox and old Coon, 
‘‘Please, oh, please,” begged old Rabbit, “don’t 
throw me into the brier patch and let me get 
all scratched up, but cut me up for stew. 
That’s what I want to be, rabbit stew!” 

So with that, the Pox and old Coon lifted old 
Rabbit up and flung him as far as they could 
into the brier patch. Then old Rabbit looked 
back at them, kicked up his heels, laughed, and 
off he hopped calling as he went, “Thank you, 
neighbors. I and all my family were born and 
raised in a brier patch. This was the right 
place to fling me.” And off he went. Uppity, 
Uppity, Up, home! 


THE LITTLE GOLD STONE 


O NCE upon a time when the fishes, and the 
birds, and all the little creatures like the 
worms and the frogs and the snakes and the 
turtles, owned the earth, the king of them all 
for a year was the old mole. Now the mole 
heard about a little gold stone that lay in the 
bottom of the brook and that it would cure him 
of his blindness if only he could get it, but he 
couldn’t do that, for he was the slowest mov¬ 
ing man of them all. 

So the mole offered to grant the dearest wish 
of anybody who would go to the brook and 
bring him that little gold stone, and every¬ 
body began hurrying to do it. 

Of course the birds had the best chance, and 
when they were well on the way, they heard, 
swish, swish, the sound of swift wings, and 
they knew very well who it was. That was 
Nancy-Jane, the fastest flying bird of them 
all. They couldn’t come anywhere near Nancy 
Jane, and she passed them with her head way 
up high, for she knew, too, that she was going 
to be the first one at the brook. 

202 


MERRY FOLK TALES 


203 


But after Nancy Jane had gone on ahead, 
the birds heard an old turtle, who was making 
his slow way along with all the rest of the 
gentlemen on the ground, speaking, ‘‘What’s 
the use of hurrying?” asked the turtle, “when 
we will have to wait all summer until the brook 
runs dry before we can fetch that little gold 
stone?” 

So they all knew that there was no use in 
going any farther that day, and most of them 
went home to attend to their affairs. 

In those days, the crow was the trickiest of 
all the birds, and he called a council of them 
that very day to see what they could do with 
Nancy-Jane. “No matter how fast we fly,” 
said the crow, “Nancy-Jane is bound to beat 
us. I propose that we give a feast and invite 
her to attend. I will supply all the corn. 
When we get her here, we can tie her up to a 
bush outside of the house where we will have 
her safe.” 

This seemed to be a very good plan, so they 
sent the lark on ahead to invite Nancy-Jane to 
the feast and while he was gone, they spread 
the table with the seeds that Nancy-Jane liked 
the most. 

All this time, Nancy-Jane never suspected 
any trouble. Not seeing a bird or an animal 


204 


MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 


in sight, she decided to rest a while and when 
the lark caught up with her, there she was 
sleeping comfortably under a sweet gum tree 
and dreaming about carrying the little gold 
stone home to King Mole for the reward. The 
lark nudged Nancy-Jane on her shoulder and 
said loudly to her, 

‘‘We birds are going to give a big dinner, 
and eat most all the time from now until the 
brook runs dry. We are bound to get there 
first anyway, and we thought that we might 
as well enjoy ourselves while we are waiting. 
We don’t plan to begin eating, though, until 
you can join us, Nancy-Jane. The other birds 
just sent me on ahead to say that they couldn’t 
sit down to table without you.” 

So Nancy-Jane felt very much compli¬ 
mented. She thanked the lark, and then she 
fiew, swish, swish, not waiting for him, even, 
and she did not stop until she was right in the 
middle of the table. The other birds pre¬ 
tended that they were very glad to see Nancy- 
Jane. They gave her some of all the different 
kinds of seeds they had, and just when she was 
enjoying herself, they caught her and tied her 
fast to a bush out in front of the house. 

Poor Nancy-Jane! She could move neither 
wings nor feet. The other birds danced 


MERRY FOLK TALES 


205 


around her on the tips of their toes and flapped 
their wings at her and called out, ‘‘Now will 
you beat us flying to the brook And pretty 
soon it was the end of the summer and they 
thought that it was a good time to start out 
again for the little gold stone. 

So everybody started, and Nancy-Jane was 
left there alone. At least, she thought that she 
was alone. All day and all night she called 
out, 

“Whofll untie, who’ll untie, poor Nancy- 
Jane-0 

“Who’ll untie, who’ll untie, poor Nancy- 
Jane-0 r’ 

Now, way down under a big stone, where he 
had not heard any of these goings on, lived 
Pig-un-a-wa-ya, the old bull frog, but he heard 
poor Nancy-Jane, and he came out and asked 
her what was the matter with her. 

“Why, Nancy-Jane, the fastest flying bird 
of them all!” said Pig-un-a-wa-ya, “What are 
you doing, tied to that bush?” 

So Nancy-Jane told him all about it, and 
Pig-un-a-wa-ya, who was a calculating man, 
turned it over in his mind to see how he could 
get a little something out of it. At last he 
spoke to Nancy-Jane. “I was thinking about 
making a trip to the brook to get the gold 


206 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

stone,’’ Pig-un-a-wa-ya said to her, ^^but I’m 
such a fat, slow walking man that I knew there 
wouldn’t be any use in my starting, even. But 
if you thought that you could carry me on your 
back, Nancy-Jane, I would untie you and we 
would be sure of beating them all. You, being 
such a swift flying bird, could go on ahead of 
them, and even if the brook was not all dried, 
I could jump down, ker-flunk, into the water 
and bring up the gold stone. We would have 
no trouble, Nancy-Jane, and we could divide 
the prize between us. How do you feel about 

itr’ 

Nancy Jane didn’t want to share the gold 
stone with anyone. And she didn’t want to be 
seen carrying old Pig-un-a-wa-ya on her back 
up there in the sky. Nancy Jane knew that 
she would look ridiculous. But she did not 
want to spend all her days tied there to a bush 
in front of the house, so she took up with Pig- 
un-a-wa-ya ’s offer and he untied her. Then he 
sat down on her back and off she flew, almost as 
fast as if she was not carrying him. 

Pretty soon the swifter flying birds, who 
were in the lead on the way to the brook, heard 
a sound of wings, swish, swish, passing them. 
Then they saw Nancy-Jane with old Pig-un-a- 
wa-ya on her back, and they called out to her. 


/ 


MERRY FOLK TALES 


207 


Who untied, who untied, poor Nancy-Jane- 

And the bull frog, who was all excited to be 
flying through the air so fast, turned himself 
around and called back to them in a hoarse 
voice, 

‘‘Pig-un-a-wa-ya, Pig-un-a-wa-ya, boo, hoo, 
hoo, 

Nancy-Jane and Pig-un-a-wa-ya are going to 
beat you!’’ 

Then there was a race! All the birds put 
their best feet forward and the gentlemen on 
the ground did the same with theirs, but it 
didn’t do a single bit of good. They might go 
on ahead for a little way, but in the end Nancy- 
Jane and Pig-un-a-wa-ya gained on them, the 
old bull frog calling back to them every little 
while, between chuckles, 

^‘Pig-un-a-wa-ya, Pig-un-a-wa-ya, hoo, hoo, 
hoo, 

Nancy-Jane and Pig-un-a-wa-ya are going to 
beat you!” 

Well that was just what happened. Nancy 
Jane came first of all to the brook. Not one of 
all the others was in sight. The water was not 


208 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

quite dried up and old Pig-un-a-wa-ya pre¬ 
tended that it would be very dangerous for 
Nancy Jane to so much as touch her feet to the 
water. Off her back he jumped, with a loud 
ker-flunk, into the brook, and up he came with 
the little gold stone in his mouth. 

Nancy-Jane sat on a persimmon bush by the 
edge of the brook until she saw Pig-un-a-wa-ya 
hoist up his feet and rise out of the brook. 
Then she let him mount on her back again, and 
after that she began to get so proud that, man, 
she didnT know hardly what she was about! 
Pound and round over the brook, Nancy-eTane 
flew with old Pig-un-a-wa-ya on her back, sing¬ 
ing all the time, 

‘‘Nancy-Jane and Pig-un-a-wa-ya, hoo, hoo, 
hoo, 

Nancy-Jane and Pig-un-a-wa-ya, done beat 
you!^^ 

Well, when the other flying and crawling 
ones came up, Nancy-Jane flew round in circles 
faster and faster. She flew so fast that she 
got dizzy, but instead of starting on home, she 
just kept on circling. Old Pig-un-a-wa-ya had 
a hard time keeping his hold on Nancy-Jane’s 
back, and he began to swell up larger and 
larger as he thought of the gold stone in his 


MERRY FOLK TALES 


209 


mouth, which made it harder for him to stay 
on. He decided that he would sing too, with 
Nancy Jane, so he swelled out some more, drew 
in his breath to get ready, puffed it out, and out 
went the gold stone back into the brook! 

And just then down went Nancy-Jane and 
Pig-un-a-wa-ya into the brook too, stuck fast 
in the mud, and they never got out again. 


THE WISE LITTLE JACKAL 


O NCE upon a time there was a wise little 
Jackal who lived all by himself in a little 
house in the wide Jungle. And the little house 
of the wise little Jackal was not very far from 
a river where there were crabs, so he used to 
go down every day to the river bank and eat 
crabs for his dinner. 

But a huge and fierce Alligator lived in the 
mud of the river, and one day he lay dozing 
there in the sunshine with his nose just stick¬ 
ing up out of the water. And the little Jackal 
thought that the pink tip of the fierce Alli¬ 
gator’s nose was a crab, so he bit it. 

Oh, then there was a great lashing and foam¬ 
ing of the water as the huge and fierce Alli¬ 
gator came up and caught the little Jackal’s 
tail tightly in his mouth. For he had made up 
his mind that he was going to eat up that little 
Jackal. It looked very badly indeed for the 
little Jackal, but at last he had a wise thought. 

“Oh, great, and mighty Alligator,” said the 
little Jackal, “did you think that you had 
210 


MERRY FOLK TALES 


211 


caught my tail in your fierce jaws ? lam sorry 
to tell you about it, but all that you hold in 
your teeth is a long and fat root of the bul¬ 
rushes that grow on the bank of the river.” 

^‘Well, I will get you yet,” cried the huge 
and fierce Alligator, dropping his hold on the 
little JackaFs tail as he spoke. And with that, 
off ran the little Jackal, singing as he went, 

^‘Stupid one, stupid one! Ring-a-ting-ting. 
Silly old Alligator, didn’t catch a thing!” 

All the way through the Jungle to his house, 
the little Jackal sang, but he was very much 
frightened for all that. He remembered how 
wide were the Alligator’s jaws, and how long 
he was, and how many sharp teeth he showed. 
He knew that the Alligator was very, very 
angry at being so outwitted, and that he could 
travel on land almost as well as in the water. 
So the little Jackal gave up his crab dinners 
and ate only figs, for there were many fig trees 
in the Jungle, and here he hoped to be safe. 
But one day, as he came to get his dinner, what 
did the little Jackal see but a large, neat, round 
pile of figs lying on the ground. It was a 
larger pile of figs than he had ever seen in his 
life. But he was a wise little J ackal, so he did 


212 


MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 


not touch one of the pile. Instead, he talked 
to himself in his soft, little voice, and he said, 
skipping away from the pile, 

would never think of eating figs from so 
large a pile as that. They could never be 
fresh. The figs that I love are those that drop 
down from the tree, one at a time, and are 
blown along the ground by the wind. ’’ 

Then there came a great noise from the pile 
of figs, and out from under them came the 
huge and fierce Alligator, his teeth showing, 
and waddling along on his short fat legs. He 
was very, very angry, but the little Jackal was 
too far away for him to catch him. And the 
Jackal called out to him, 

‘^Stupid one, stupid one! Ring-a-ting-ting. 
Silly old Alligator, didn’t catch a thing!” 

All the way through the Jungle to his house, 
the little Jackal sang, but he was very much 
frightened still. He knew that if the Alligator 
had traveled from the river bank to the 
fig tree to catch him, he might come farther 
still. So the poor little Jackal stayed at home 
all the time after that, and ate only roots and 
berries, and he grew very thin indeed. 

And one day, when the poor little J ackal was 


MERRY FOLK TALES 


213 


SO thin and weak that he could scarcely walk, 
he came back to his little house, and he saw 
some unusual marks around the door. The 
bamboo wood was scratched and bent as if 
someone too large had gone in through the 
door. Oh, how frightened the little Jackal 
was then! But he was not going to show his 
fear. No, indeed. He just stood on the out¬ 
side of the door, and spoke to his little house, 

‘‘Little House, little House,’’ said the Jackal, 
“what is the matter with you? Never before, 
when I came home from the Jungle have you 
failed to say to me, ‘ all is well. ’ Has anything 
happened inside of you?” 

Then the huge, and fierce Alligator, who had 
squeezed himself in through the door, and lay 
in wait inside for the little Jackal, made his 
voice small and soft, and said, 

“All is well with me, little Jackal.” 

And that was just what the Jackal wanted 
to know. He hurried to the Jungle and gath¬ 
ered a great deal of dry brush and the 
branches of trees and brought them back with 
him. He made several trips until he had 
enough wood for a large fire, and he piled it in 
front of the door of his house. Then he 
lighted it, and when the Alligator, who couldn’t 
stand smoke, came out to get the air, he was all 


214 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 
burned up, and the little Jackal danced around 
the fire and sang, 

Stupid old Alligator, ring-a-ting-ting. 

Silly old Alligator. Didn’t catch a thing.” 

And then the little Jackal went down to the 
river and ate crabs, and on the way home he ate 
figs, and he grew very fat and happy again. 


HOW JAY BIRD GOT HIS DESERTS 


O NCE -upon a time, Miss Robin was the 
belle of the whole wild wood, but the bird 
who courted her the most was Jay Bird. 
Every day Jay Bird came to call on Miss 
Robin, bringing her ripe berries and worms, 
and trying to sing in tune for her. Miss Robin 
seemed mighty pleased with all this attention 
from Jay Bird. She ate his worms and ber¬ 
ries. She complimented him on his voice, and 
once in a while she would go walking with Jay 
Bird, but she never let him say anything to her 
about building a nest together. Oh, no. Miss 
Robin wasn’t going to say anything about 
that to Jay Bird. 

So Jay Bird began to get discouraged about 
the way Miss Robin was treating him, and he 
made up his mind that he was going to build a 
new house anyway, and then, maybe, when it 
was all done, he could persuade Miss Robin to 
share it with him. Jay Bird went to work 
gathering sticks, and one day when he was lay¬ 
ing them together, he thought that he heard 
216 


216 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

something down in the path under the tree 
where he was working. Jay Bird looked down 
between the leaves so that nobody could see 
him, and there was Miss Robin walking out 
with Woodpecker. She was speaking just as 
pleasantly to Woodpecker as she always had 
to Jay Bird, and Woodpecker was gathering 
berries for her. 

Wasn’t Jay Bird mad! He scolded so hard 
up there in the tree that all the birds of the 
wild wood were scared, and he made up his 
mind that he was going to get even with Wood¬ 
pecker. 

In those days Woodpecker was one of the 
most handsome birds in the whole wild wood. 
He wore a black suit, just like the Crow’s, and 
he had a topknot like the topknot the Rooster 
wears. Woodpecker brushed his clothes and 
polished his cap every Sunday. He was one of 
the best looking of all Miss Robin’s beaus. 
That made Jay Bird dislike him all the more. 

So Jay Bird took some of the longest sticks 
that he had gathered for his nest and he nailed 
them together just the way he had seen the 
farmer nail his fence. But between the lowest 
stick and the next one. Jay Bird left space so 
that a bird could get through. He propped 
up the stick that was next to the bottom with 


MERRY FOLK TALES 


217 


a chip so that it would fall, just like a trap, 
if the chip was knocked out. Then Jay Bird 
crawled through the fence himself, carefully, 
so as not to spring his trap. 

Pretty soon, when he heard Woodpecker’s 
hammer going rap-a-tap-tap on a tree so he 
knew that he was through promenading with 
Miss Robin, Jay Bird followed the sound. He 
found Woodpecker half way up a tree, and he 
spoke to him like a gentleman, asking how his 
work was going, and if he would be through by 
five o’clock. 

Woodpecker stopped hammering long 
enough to pass the time of day with Jay Bird 
and say that he expected to finish his job by 
five o’clock. 

was planning to give a small dinner party, 
Mr. Woodpecker,” Jay Bird told him, trying 
to keep his voice from screeching, ‘‘and I was 
lotting on having you there. It is going to 
be a worm dinner,” he said, “particularly in 
honor of Miss Robin.” 

Woodpecker said he would be complimented 
to come, and J ay Bird went on to Miss Robin’s. 
She was pretty cold to J ay Bird, but when he 
told her about the worm dinner he was giving 
that evening, and how Woodpecker would be 
there. Miss Robin warmed up quite a little, and 


218 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

she said to Jay Bird, in a kind of a coaxing 
way, ‘‘Don’t you think Mr. Peckerwood is a 
very handsome man?” 

Peckerwood was a kind of pet name that 
Miss Robin had for Woodpecker and it made 
Jay Bird hopping mad to hear her call him 
that, but he kept his feelings to himself as far 
as he could. “It all depends on what you 
call handsome. Miss Robin,” Jay Bird said. 
“For myself, I prefer a little color in a suit 
of clothes. This evening, then, ma’am?” 
And Jay Bird went home to gather worms. 

Well, when dinner time came that evening. 
Jay Bird sat on his front porch just as if he 
was expecting company, and soon along came 
Woodpecker, his clothes brushed just as if it 
were Sunday, and his topknot standing up in 
the air. He was in such a hurry to get to Miss 
Robin’s dinner party that he didn’t lose any 
time looking where he was going. The first 
thing he knew he walked right into Jay Bird’s 
new fence. The rail came down, for Wood¬ 
pecker had knocked out the chip, and there he 
was caught by his head in the crack! 

Jay Bird started right in making fun of 
Woodpecker, and laughing at him. “Now 
I’ve got you just where I want you, Mr. Peck¬ 
erwood!” Jay Bird called to him. “You will 


MERRY FOLK TALES 


219 


promenade with Miss Eobin, and gather ber¬ 
ries for her, will you^? Well, pretty soon she 
will be coming along, but by that time her din¬ 
ner will be in the pot. Boiled Peckerwood! 
That is what Miss Eobin is going to eat for 
dinner!’^ And with those cruel words. Jay 
Bird went around to the back of his house to 
fetch his axe. 

But he had been gone only a minute when 
along came Miss Eobin, and when she saw 
Woodpecker with his neck caught in the fence, 
she asked him how it happened, and Wood¬ 
pecker, in a faint voice, told her all about it. 
He told her how Jay Bird was probably sharp¬ 
ening his axe now, and Miss Eobin fluttered 
around in her best feathers and tried to lift 
off the rail from her Peckerwood. 

She pulled and she pulled, but the rail was 
too heavy for her, and all the time they could 
hear Jay Bird’s grind-stone creaking around 
at the back of his house. Then Miss Eobin 
thought of something else to do, and she 
braced herself against a stone, took hold of 
Woodpecker’s feet, and pulled, and pulled, and 
pulled. After a while, straining, and tugging, 
and nearly losing her breath. Miss Eobin got 
Woodpecker through, but he had to leave his 
topknot in the crack in the rail fence. 


220 


MERKY TALES FOR CHILDREN 


Miss Robin didn’t care a bit about that, and 
neither did Woodpecker. She held his head 
in her lap, and the blood from her breast where 
she had torn it on a nail in the fence dripped 
down on Woodpecker’s black cap and turned 
it a bright red. He has worn a red cap ever 
since then. And Miss Robin wears a red 
breast. 

Just then Jay Bird came around the corner 
of his house with his axe under his wing, but 
Miss Robin just made up a face at him, and 
flew off home, taking the Peckerwood with her. 
His mean ways never did Jay Bird a bit of 
good, for Miss Robin would not speak to him 
after that. And Woodpecker’s new red cap 
was very much admired in the wild wood. 


THE FOX AND THE CRAB 


T he Crab lay in the warm sand of the 
beach and thought how pleasant and in¬ 
dolent was his life. There is nothing in all 
the sea for me to desire/’ he said to himself, 
‘‘or on the land either, for that matter,” but 
just as the Crab had these thoughts, he was 
surprised. Down the beach ran a Fox, swiftly, 
his brush of a tail held high in the air, and his 
red nose turned up scornfully. 

He sat down beside the Crab and began to 
make fun of him, “One, two, three, four—but 
I cannot count all your legs, Mr. Crab,” said 
the Fox, “and yet here you lie, stupid and lazy, 
in the sun, not able to walk even as fast as I 
can. Did you ever run a race?” 

“I never have had any occasion to run a race, 
Mr. Fox,” replied the Crab. “Some of us are 
fiddlers, and some of us are able to walk side¬ 
ways, but we have never been invited to take 
part in sports. I have no doubt but that I 
could run, though, if I had to.” 

“Then race with me,” said the crafty Fox. 
221 


222 


MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 


^‘That would be a race! I am so famous for 
my speed that whole parties of huntsmen on 
horseback, and packs of hunting dogs are not 
able to catch me unless I let them. Race with 
me, old Crab! You ought to win, I am sure, 
for you have two or three times as many legs 
as I. Let me see you use them,^^ and the Fox 
laughed behind his paw at his own joke. 

The Crab thought for a moment. Then he 
looked at the Pox’s long and bushy tail. 

‘‘I may have more legs than you, Mr. Fox,” 
said the Crab at last, ‘‘but even so, it would not 
be an equal race, because of your tail. It acts 
like a sail, and balances, and speeds you along 
as you run. I will race with you if you will 
allow me to fasten down your tail before we 
start. I could do it very neatly by tying it to 
your fur with my claws. What do you say 
to the plan, sir?” 

“I say that it is a very good plan,” said the 
Fox, scornfully. “Tie my tail down as 
tightly as you like, and see how little I need it 
when I run. My great speed is in my legs. 
But have your way, I am willing.” 

So the Pox allowed the Crab to tie down his 
tail to his fur, and then they were off. The 
Fox ran like the wind. His red fur was like 
a line of bright flame along the beach, so 


MERRY FOLK TALES 


223 


quickly did he go. He did not trouble to turn 
back, for he had not heard the Crab’s feet once 
behind him. ‘‘Silly little creature,” thought 
the Fox as he turned at the end of the beach 
and ran back to the starting point, “to think 
that, with all his many legs, he could excel me 
in speed. I shall pick him up somewhere near 
the starting point, I suppose, tired out.” 

But, instead, the Crab gave a last leap, and 
reached the goal a lap ahead of the Fox. He 
had fastened himself to the Fox’s tail, and the 
Fox had carried him all the way, and at last 
to victory. 


SON-OF-A-BRAVE’S BALLOON 


W HEN Son-of-a-Brave was ten years old 
he felt that no other boy of the tribe 
was so important as he. 

The village medicine man had made him a 
string of carved wampum to wear about his 
neck and keep him safe when he was out hunt¬ 
ing. The chief huntsman of the tribe had 
given him a long bow and arrow tipped with 
the brightest feathers. As Son-of-a-Brave 
kneeled upon the ground, aimed, and snapped 
his bow string the arrow would sail up, up, 
above the tree tops until it seemed almost as if 
it would reach the home of the eagle on a far 
away mountain top. 

He had a drum and pipes with which to make 
music as the village warriors went out to bat¬ 
tle or returned home. He had the finest 
beaded moccasins, the softest doe-skin suit, and 
the brightest colored blanket of any boy in 
the village. His father had ordered a canoe, 
especially light and swift, to be made for him. 
Because of all these gifts Son-of-a-Brave con- 
224 


MERRY FOLK TALES 


225 


tiniially wanted others. He grew discon¬ 
tented, and longed for toys that no Indian lad 
could have. At last he had a strange desire 
that made the old braves and his own father 
shake their heads in wonder and despair. 

want a large white cloud,’’ Son-of-a- 
Brave decided. will have a cloud. I could 
fasten it to the bow of my canoe and use it for 
a sail to save me the trouble of paddling. Or 
I could play ball with it in front of the lodge 
with the other boys; not one of them would 
have so great and fine a ball as I.” 

“The clouds were created to hang in the 
sky,” the medicine man warned Son-of-a- 
Brave. ‘ ‘ The Great Spirit put them there and 
there they must stay. When anything is out 
of its place in the world there is apt to be great 
trouble in consequence. Do not meddle with 
the clouds, Son-of-a-Brave.” 

But the boy paid not the slightest attention 
to the warning of this wise old man. One day 
he started out with provisions for a journey 
packed in his canoe, and he said that the tribe 
would not see him again until he returned with 
a cloud. 

Son-of-a-Brave paddled up the stream un¬ 
til he was far away from the camp and near 
to the source of the waters. Then he tied the 


226 


MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 


canoe to a tree and set out on foot, climbing 
higher all the time up the side of a mountain. 
After many days of hard traveling he reached 
the top. There, on the brow of the mountain, 
lay a great, white cloud. Although it was 
large it was very light, and Son-of-a-Brave put 
it on his back and went down the mountain. 
He found his canoe and tied the cloud to the 
bow of it. Oh, it was a wonderful sight there 
and filled Son-of-a-Brave’s heart with pride. 
The wind filled it and the canoe rode the stream 
like a bird fioating through the air. It was 
like nothing so much as the biggest balloon in 
the world. Son-of-a-Brave thought he would 
be able to catch hold of it when he wished and 
sail up to the sky. 

“I will tie it back of our lodge,’’ he decided, 
^‘and allow no one to touch it but myself. I 
shall have a new name, Somof-a-Brave-Who- 
Owns-a-Cloud!” 

In his fancy he could see the light of camp 
fires and hear the shouts of the braves as they 
had a feast and gave him his new name. 

So Son-of-a-Brave sailed swiftly down the 
stream, and almost before he realized it he 
could see the poles of the lodges of his village 
showing through the trees. He shouted loudly 
to call the tribe down to the water’s edge to see 


MEERY FOLK TALES 


227 


his triumph. They came running, the old and 
the young braves, the squaws, and the boys and 
girls his own age. They stood speechless when 
they saw the cloud. And Son-of-a-Brave 
jumped out of his canoe and prepared to take 
the cloud off and onto land. » 

But he was in too great haste. The cloud 
caught in a bush on the edge of the stream and, 
just as a balloon bursts if a pin is stuck in it, 
the cloud burst. It burst in a fog, and that is 
how, the Indians tell us, the first fog came. 


TOM TIT TOT 


O NCE upon a time, there was a woman and 
she baked five pies. And when they 
came out of the oven, they were that over- 
baked the crusts were too hard to eat. So she 
said to her daughter: 

‘^Daughter,” she said, ‘‘put those pies on the 
shelf, and leave ’em there a little and they’ll 
come again.” She meant, you know, that the 
crusts would get soft. 

But the girl said to herself: “Well, if 
they’ll come again. I’ll eat ’em now.” And 
she set to work and ate them all, first and last. 

Well, come supper time, the woman said: 
“Go you, and get one of those pies. I dare say 
they’ve come again now.” 

The girl went and she looked, and there was 
nothing but the dishes. So back she came and 
said: “No, they’ve not come again.” 

“Not one of them?” asked the mother. 
“Not one of them,” said she. 

“Well, come again, or not come again,” said 

the mother, “I’ll have one for supper.” 

228 


MERRY FOLK TALES 


229 


‘‘But you can’t if they haven’t come,” said 
the girl. 

“But I can,” said she, “Go you, and bring 
me the best one.” 

“Best or worst,” said the girl, “I’ve eaten 
them all, and you can’t have one.” 

Well, the woman was surprised, and she took 
her spinning to the door, and as she spun she 
sang: 

“My daughter has eaten five, five pies today! 

My daughter has eaten five, five pies today!” 

The king was coming down the street and 
he heard her song, but what the words were he 
couldn’t hear, so he stopped and said: 

“What was that you were singing, my good 
woman?” 

The woman was ashamed to let him hear 
what her daughter had been doing, so she sang 
instead of the first words: 

“My daughter has spun five, five skeins today! 
My daughter has spun five, five skeins today!” 

“Stars-o-mine,” said the king, “I never 
heard tell of any one who could do that!” 

Then he said: “Look you here; I want a 
wife and I will marry your daughter. But,” 
said he, “eleven months out of the year she 


230 


MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 


shall have all that she wants to eat, and all the 
gowns she wants to wear, and all the company 
she likes to keep; but the last month of the 
year, she’ll have to spin five skeins every day 
or I will have her banished.” 

‘‘All right,” said the woman, for she thought 
what a fine marriage it would he. And as for 
the five skeins, why, when the time came, there 
would be plenty of ways of getting out of that; 
and very likely the king would have forgotten 
about them himself. 

Well, so they were married. And for eleven 
months the girl had all that she wanted to eat, 
and all the gowns she wanted to wear, and all 
the company she liked to keep. But when the 
time was getting over, she began to think about 
the skeins and to wonder if the king had them 
in mind. But not one word did he say, and 
she decided that he had wholly forgotten them. 

However, the last day of the month he took 
her to a room she’d never set foot in before. 
There was nothing in it but a spinning wheel 
and a stool and some flax. And the king said: 
“Now, my dear, here you’ll be shut in tomor¬ 
row with some victuals and if you haven’t spun 
five skeins by night, out of the kingdom you’ll 
go.” 

And away he went about his business. 


MERRY FOLK TALES 


231 


Well, she was that frightened, she’d always 
been such an idle, careless girl, that she didn’t 
know what to do. She didn’t know how to 
spin, and what would she do on the morrow 
with no one to come nigh and help her ? She 
sat down on a stool in the kitchen, and how she 
did cry! 

However, all of a sudden she heard a sort 
of knocking low on the door. She opened it, 
and who should she see but a small, little black 
thing with a long tail! It looked at her right 
curious, and it said: 

‘‘What are you a-crying for?” 

“What’s that to you?” said she. 

“Never you mind,” it said, “but tell me 
what you’re a-crying for?” 

“That won’t do me any good,” said she. 

“You don’t know that,” it said and twirled 
its tail about. 

“Well,” said she at last, “it won’t do any 
harm if it doesn’t do any good,” and she up 
and told about the pies, and the skeins, and 
everything. 

“Well, this is what I’ll do,” said the little 
black thing, “I’ll come to your window every 
morning and take the flax and bring it back all 
spun at night.” 

“What’s your pay?” said she. 


232 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

The small, little black thing looked at her 
out of the corner of its eye, and it said: ‘‘I’ll 
give you three guesses every night to guess my 
name, and if you haven’t guessed it before the 
month’s up you shall be mine!” 

Well, she thought that she would be sure to 
guess its name before the month was up. 
“All right,” said she, “I’ll agree.” 

The next day the king took her into the 
room, and there was the flax and the day’s 
food. 

“Now, there is the flax,” said he, “and if it 
isn’t spun by night, out you go. ” And then he 
went out and locked the door. 

He had hardly gone when there came a 
knocking against the window. 

She up and she opened it, and sure enough, 
there was the little old black thing sitting on 
the ledge. 

“Where’s the flax?” said it. 

“Here it be,” said she and she gave it to 
it. 

Well, come the evening a knocking came 
again against the window. She up and she 
opened it, and there was the little old black 
thing with flve skeins of spun flax on his arm. 
“Here it be,” it said, and it gave it to her. 
“Now, what’s my name?” said it. 


MERRY FOLK TALES 


233 


“Is it BilH’’said she. 

“No, it isn’t,’’ said it, and it twirled its 
tail. 

“Is it Ned?” said she. 

“No, it isn’t,” said it, and it twirled its 
tail. 

“Well, then it’s Mark,” said she. 

“iVo. it isn’t,” said it, and it twirled its tail 
harder and away it flew. 

When the king came in there were the flve 
skeins ready for him. “I see I shan^t have 
to banish you tonight, my dear,” said he, 
“You’ll have your food and more flax in the 
morning.” 

Every day the food and the flax were 
brought, and every day, morning and evening, 
the little black imp came. And all the day 
the girl sat trying to think of names to say to 
it when it came at night. But she never hit 
on the right one. And as it came toward the 
end of the month, the imp began to look mal¬ 
iceful, and twirled its tail faster and faster 
each time she gave a wrong guess. 

Well, it came to the last day but one. The 
imp came at night with the flve skeins, and it 
said: “Haven’t you got my name yet?” 

“Is it Nicodemus?” said she. 

“No, it isn’t,” said it. 


234 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

it Sammle?” said she. 

‘‘No, it isn’t,’’ said it. 

“Ah—well—^then it’s Methusalem,” said 
she. 

“iV 0 , it isn’t, ” said it. Then it looked at her 
with its eyes like coals of fire, and it said: 
“There’s only tomorrow night, and then you’ll 
be mine!” And away it flew. 

Well, she felt horrid. However, she heard 
the king coming along the passage. In he 
came, and when he saw the five skeins he said: 
“Well, my dear,” said he. “I don’t see but 
what you’ll have your skeins ready tomorrow 
night as well, and as I reckon I shall not have 
to banish you, I’ll have supper in here to¬ 
night.” So they brought supper, and another 
stool for him, and down the two sat. 

He had eaten but a mouthful or two, when 
he stopped to laugh. 

“What is it?” said she. 

“Why,” said he, “I was out hunting today, 
and I got away to a place in the woods where 
I had never been before. And there was an 
old chalk-pit. I heard a sort of humming, and 
so I got off my horse, and I went softly to the 
pit, and I looked down in. Well, what should 
there be there but the funniest little black 


MERRY FOLK TALES 


235 


thing you ever set eyes upon. And what was 
it doing, but sitting beside a little spinning- 
wheel and spinning wonderfully fast, all the 
while twirling its tail. And as it spun, it 
sang: 

‘‘Ninrniy, ninuny, not. 

My name’s Tom Tit Tot.” 

Well, when the girl heard this, she felt as if 
she must jump for joy, but she didn’t say a 
word. 

The next day the little small black thing 
looked most maliceful when it came for the 
flax. And when night came she heard it knock¬ 
ing against the window panes. She opened 
the window, and it came right in on the ledge. 
It was grinning from ear to ear, and Oo! its 
tail was twirling round fast and hard. 

‘^What’s my name?” it asked, giving her 
the skeins spitefully. 

‘^Is it Solomon?” said she, pretending to be 
afraid. 

‘^No, it isn’t,” it said coming farther into 
the room. 

‘‘Well, is it Zebedee?” said she again. 

“No, it isn’t,” said the imp. And then it 


236 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

laughed and twirled its tail until you could 
hardly see it. ‘^Take time,” it said, ‘‘next 
guess and you ’re mine! ’ ’ And it stretched out 
its little black hands at her. 

Well, she backed a step or two, and she 
looked at it and she said, pointing her finger 
at it : 


“Mmmy, nimmy, not. 

Your name’s Tom Tit Tot!” 

Well, when he heard that, Tom Tit Tot gave 
a terrible shriek, and away he fiew into the 
dark, and she never saw him again. 


THE WOLF AND THE SEVEN LITTLE 
GOSLINGS 


T here was once an old goose who had 
seven young goslings, and loved them as 
only a mother can love her children. One day 
she was going into the woods to look for food, 
and before setting out she called all seven to 
her and said: ^‘Dear children, I am obliged 
to go into the wood, so be on your guard 
against the wolf, for if he gets you he will eat 
you up, feathers, skin, and all. The villain 
often disguises himself, but you can easily rec¬ 
ognize him by his rough voice and his black 
paws.” 

‘‘We will take great care. Mother,” the 
young goslings answered. “You may go with 
no fear.” So the old lady was comforted, and 
set off cheerfully for the wood. 

But she had not been gone very long when 
someone knocked on the door, and cried: 
“Open, open, my dear children. Your mother 
is here and has brought something for each 
one of you.” 


237 


238 


MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 


But the goslings soon understood, by the 
rough voice, that it was the wolf. ‘‘We will 
not open,’^ they said. “You are not our 
mother, for she has a sweet and lovely voice, 
while your voice is rough—you are the wolf!’’ 

So the wolf set off to a merchant and bought 
a large lump of chalk which he ate to make 
his voice sweet. Back he came, knocked at the 
door, and cried: “Open, open, my dear chil¬ 
dren. Your mother is here and has brought 
something for each one of you.” 

But the wolf had laid his black paw on the 
window-sill, and when the goslings saw it, they 
cried: “We will not open. Our mother has 
not such black feet as that—you are the wolf.” 

So the wolf ran off to the baker and said: 
“I have hurt my foot; put some dough on it.” 
And when the baker had plastered the wolf’s 
paw with dough, he went to the miller and 
said: “Strew some meal on my paws.” 

But the miller thought to himself, “This 
wolf wants to deceive someone,” and hesitated. 
At this the wolf became fierce: “If you do 
not at once cover my paws with meal I will 
eat you up!” he growled. So the miller was 
afraid and whitened his paws. 

Then the rogue came back a third time, 
knocking softly at the door, and calling: 


MERRY FOLK TALES 


239 


^^Open the door, dear children. Your mother 
has come home and has brought something for 
each one of you. ” 

^‘Show us your feet,” cried the little gos¬ 
lings, ^‘that we may see for ourselves if you are 
our mother.” 

So the wolf laid his paws on the window-sill, 
and when the goslings saw that they were 
white, they believed that it was safe to open 
the door. And who should come in but the 
old wolf! 

They screamed out and tried to hide them¬ 
selves. One jumped under the table, another 
into bed, the third into the oven, the fourth ran 
into the kitchen, the fifth hopped into a chest, 
the sixth under the washtub, and the seventh 
hid in the clock-case. But the wolf seized 
them, and stood on no ceremony with them. 
One after another he ate them up, all except 
the seventh gosling who had slipped into the 
clock-case and the wolf had not been able to 
find. When the wolf had gobbled his fill of 
goslings, he strolled out, laid himself down in 
a green meadow under a tree, and went fast 
asleep. 

Not long after, back came the old goose from 
the wood, but what, alas, did she see! The 
house door was wide open. Table, chairs, 


240 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

benches, were all overthrown. The wash-tnb 
lay in the ashes. Blankets and pillows were 
torn off the bed. She looked for the children, 
but nowhere could she find them. She called 
each one by name, but there came no answer. 
At last, as she called the youngest, a little 
squeeking voice answered, ‘‘Here I am, dear 
Mother, in the clock-case.” She pulled the 
youngest gosling out, and he told her how the 
wolf had come and had eaten up the others. 
How she wept for her dear children! 

At last, the old goose went outside, and with 
her went the gosling who was left. And when 
she came to the meadow, there lay the wolf 
under the tree, snoring until the boughs shook. 
She walked round and examined him on all 
sides, until she saw that something was moving 
and kicking about inside him. 

“Can it be,” she thought, “that my poor 
children whom he swallowed for his supper are 
still alive?” So she sent the youngest gosling 
back to the house for scissors, needle, and 
thread, and she began to slit up the monster’s 
stomach. 

Scarcely had she given one snip when out 
came the head of a gosling, and when she had 
cut a little farther, out jumped the six, not in 
the least hurt, because the greedy monster had 


MERRY FOLK TALES 241 

swallowed them whole. That was a joy! 
They hugged their mother, and then skipped 
off as gay as a tailor at a wedding. 

But the old goose stopped them. ‘‘Go and 
fetch me six large stones,” she said, “to put 
inside the greedy beast while he is still asleep.” 

So the goslings got the stones in all haste, 
and they put them inside the wolf. And the 
old goose sewed him up again in a great hurry, 
while he never moved or took any notice. 

Now when the wolf at last woke up and got 
upon his legs, he found he was very thirsty, 
and wished to go to the spring for a drink. 
But as soon as he began to move the stones be¬ 
gan to shake and rattle inside him until he 
cried: 

“What’s this rumbling and tumbling 
What’s this rattling like bones? 

I thought I had eaten six little geese. 

But they’ve turned out only stones 1” 

And when the wolf came to the spring and 
bent his head to take a drink, the heavy stones 
overbalanced him, and in he went, head over 
heels. 


THE CAT AND THE MOUSE IN 
PARTNERSHIP 


A CAT, having made the acquaintance of a 
mouse, professed such great love and 
friendship for her that the mouse at last 
agreed that they should live and keep house 
together. 

‘^We must make provision for the winter,” 
said the cat, ‘‘or we shall suffer from hunger 
and you, little mouse, must not stir out or you 
will be caught in a trap.” 

So they took counsel together and bought a 
little pot of fat. And then they could not tell 
where to put it for safety, but after long con¬ 
sideration the cat said that there could be no 
better place than the church, for nobody would 
steal it there. They would put it in the church 
and not touch it until they were really in want. 
So this was done, and the little pot placed in 
safety. 

But before long, the cat was seized with a 
great wish to taste it. 

“Listen to me, little mouse,” said he, “I 
have been asked by my cousin to stand god- 
242 


MERRY FOLK TALES 


243 


father to a little son she has just had. He 
is white with brown spots, and they want to 
have the christening today, so let me go to it, 
while you stay at home to mind the house.” 

“Oh, yes, certainly,” replied the mouse, 
“pray go by all means; and while you are 
feasting on all the good things, do think of me. 
I should so like some of them.” 

But there was not a word of truth in all this. 
The cat had no cousin, and had not been asked 
to stand godfather. He went to the church, 
straight up to the little pot, and licked the fat 
off the top. Then he took a walk over the 
roofs of the town, saw his acquaintances, 
stretched himself in the sun, and licked his 
whiskers as often as he thought of the little 
pot of fat. And when it was evening he went 
home. 

“Here you are at last,” said the mouse. “I 
expect that you have had a merry time.” 

“Oh, pretty well,” answered the cat. 

“And what name did you give the child 1” 
asked the mouse. 

“Top-Off,” answered the cat drily. 

“Top-Off,” cried the mouse, “is that a com¬ 
mon name in your family ? It is a very singu¬ 
lar name.” 

“What does that matter?” answered the 


244 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

cat. not any worse than Crumb-Picker, 

the name of one of your god children.” 

A little time after this, the cat was seized 
with another longing. 

“Again I must ask you,” said he to the 
mouse, “to do me a favor and keep house alone 
for a day. I have been asked a second time 
to stand godfather; and as the little one has a 
white ring around its neck, I can’t very well 
refuse.” 

So the kind little mouse consented, and the 
cat crept along under the shadow of the town 
wall until he reached the church, and going- 
straight to the little pot of fat devoured half of 
it. 

“Nothing tastes so well as what one keeps 
to oneself,” said he, feeling quite contented 
with his day’s work. When he reached home, 
the mouse asked what name had been given to 
the child. 

“Half-Gone,” answered the cat. 

“Half-Gone!” said the mouse. “I never 
heard such a name in my life. I don’t believe 
it is to be found in any book, for that matter.” 

But the cat said nothing, and soon after that 
his mouth began to water again for the fat. 

“Good things always come in threes,” he said 
to the mouse. “Again I have been asked to 


MERRY FOLK TALES 


245 


stand godfather. The little one is quite black 
with white feet, and not a white hair on its 
body. Such a thing does not happen every 
day, and you will let me go, won’t you?” 

‘^Top-Off, Half-Gone,” murmured the 
mouse, ‘‘they are both such curious names, I 
cannot but wonder at them!” 

“That,” replied the cat, “is because you al¬ 
ways sit at home in your little grey frock and 
hairy tail, never seeing the world, and fancy¬ 
ing all sorts of things.” 

So the little mouse cleaned up the house and 
set it all in order. Meanwhile the greedy cat 
went and made an end of the little pot of fat. 

“Now all is finished one’s mind will be 
easy,” said he, and came home in the evening 
quite sleek and comfortable. The mouse 
asked at once what name had been given the 
third child. 

“You won’t appreciate it any better than 
the others,” replied the cat. “It is called All- 
Gone.” 

“All-Gone!” cried the mouse. “What an 
unheard of name! I never heard anything 
like it! All-Gone, whatever can it mean?” 
And shaking her head, she curled herself 
around and went to sleep. After that, the cat 
was not asked to stand godfather. 


246 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

When the winter had come and there was 
nothing more to be had out of doors, the mouse 
began to think of their stores. ‘‘Come, cat,’’ 
she said, “we will fetch our little pot of fat. 
How good it will taste, to be sure!” 

“Of course it will,” said the cat, “just as 
good as if you stuck your tongue out of the 
window!” 

So they set out, and when they reached the 
place, they found the pot, but it was standing 
empty. 

“Oh, now I see what it all meant,” said the 
mouse. “Now I see what kind of a partner 
you have been! Instead of standing god¬ 
father you have devoured it all up. First, 
Top-Off; then Half-Gone, then—” 

“Will you hold your tongue?” screamed the 
cat, “another word, and I will devour you.” 

But the poor little mouse, having All-Gone 
on the tip of her tongue, out it came, and the 
cat pounced upon her and ate her, too. 


THE VAGABONDS 


T he cock said to the hen, ‘Ht is nutting 
time, let us go together to the mountains 
and have a good feast for once, before the 
squirrels come and carry it all away.’’ 

‘^Yes,” answered the hen, ‘‘we will have a 
jolly time together.” 

So they set off to the mountains, and as it 
was a fine day they stayed until evening. Now 
whether it was because they had eaten so much, 
or because of their pride and haughtiness, I 
do not know, but they would not go home on 
foot. So the cock went to work to make a lit¬ 
tle carriage out of nutshells. And when it 
was ready, the hen seated herself in it and said 
to the cock, 

“Now you can harness yourself to it.” 
“That’s all very fine,” said the cock, “I 
would sooner go home on foot than do such a 
thing; and what is more, I never agreed to it. 
I don’t mind being a coachman and sitting on 
the box, but as to drawing it myself, it’s out 
of the question.” 


248 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

As they were wrangling, a duck came quack¬ 
ing along. 

‘^You thieving vagabonds!’’ said the duck. 
‘‘What do you mean by coming here uninvited 
to my mountainLook out, or it will be the 
worse for you,” and the duck flew at the cock 
with her mouth open. But the cock was not 
backward and he gave the duck a good whack 
in the body, and hacked her with his spurs so 
valiantly that she begged for mercy, and will¬ 
ingly allowed herself to be harnessed to the 
carriage. Then the cock seated himself on 
the box and was coachman. Off they went at 
a great pace, the cock crying out, “Run, duck, 
as fast as you can!” 

When they had gone a part of the way, they 
met two foot passengers, a pin and a needle. 
They cried, “Stop, stop!” saying that it would 
soon be blindman’s holiday; that they could 
not go an inch farther; that the road was very 
muddy; and might they ride for just a little 
way? 

The cock, seeing that they were slender folk 
who would not take up a great deal of room, let 
them both step into the little nut carriage, only 
they had to promise not to tread on his toes, 
or on the hen’s. 

Late in the evening they came to an inn, and 


MERRY FOLK TALES 249 

there they found that they could not go any 
farther that night, as the duck’s paces were 
not good, for she waddled so much from side 
to side. So they turned in. The landlord at 
first made some difficulty. His house was full 
already, and he thought they had the appear¬ 
ance of vagabonds; at last, however, when they 
had made many fine speeches, and had prom¬ 
ised him the egg that the hen planned to lay 
shortly, and had also promised him the duck, 
who laid one every day, he agreed to let them 
stay the night. And they did so, having a gay 
time. 

Early in the morning as it was beginning to 
grow light, but no one was awake, the cock 
called the hen, fetched her egg, made a hole in 
it, and they ate it up between them, throwing 
the shell on the hearth. Then they went up to 
the needle, who was still sleeping, picked him 
up by his head, and placed him in the inn keep¬ 
er’s chair cushion. Placing the pin in his 
towel, off they flew over the hills and far away. 
The duck, who had chosen to sleep in the open 
air, and so had remained in the yard heard the 
rustling of their wings, and, waking up, 
looked about for a brook. Down this she 
swam a good deal faster than she had drawn 
the little nut carriage. 


250 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

A few hours later, the inn keeper awoke and, 
leaving his feather bed, began washing him¬ 
self. But when he took the towel to dry him¬ 
self, he drew the pin all the way across his 
face, and made a red streak from one ear to 
the other. Then he went into the kitchen to 
light his pipe, but when he stooped towards the 
hearth to take up a coal, the egg shell flew up 
into his eyes. 

‘‘Everything goes wrong this morning I” he 
said and, full of vexation, he let himself drop 
into the grandfather’s chair; but up he 
jumped in a moment crying, “Oh, dear!” for 
the needle had gone into him. 

Now the inn keeper became angry, and had 
his suspicions that his guests who had arrived 
so late the night before were nothing but vaga¬ 
bonds. It was true. When he looked for 
them they were gone. And the inn Keeper de¬ 
cided that he would never harbor a cock and a 
hen, with their companions, again. 


THE TOWN MUSICIANS 


T here was once a man who owned a 
donkey, who had carried his sacks in¬ 
dustriously to the mill for many years, but 
whose strength had come to an end, so that the 
poor beast grew more and more unfit for work. 
The master determined to stop his food, but 
the donkey, discovering this, ran away and 
took the road to Bremen. ‘‘There,’’ he 
thought, “I can turn into a Town Musician!” 

When he had gone a little way, he found 
a hound lying in the road and panting, like one 
who is tired from running. “Hallo! What 
are you panting so for, worthy Sieze’em?” 
asked the donkey. 

“Ah,” said the dog, “just because I am old 
and growing weaker every day, and cannot go 
out hunting any longer, my master was going 
to kill me. So I have taken leave of him, but 
how shall I gain my living now?” 

“I’ll tell you what,” said the donkey, “I am 
going to Bremen to be a Town Musician. 
Come with me and take to music, too. I will 

251 


252 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

play the flute and you can beat the drum.” 

The dog liked the idea, and they travelled on. 
It was not long before they saw a cat sitting 
beside the road and making a face like three 
rainy days. 

^^Now, then, what has gone wrong with you, 
old Whiskers?” asked the donkey. 

‘‘Who can be merry when his neck is in 
danger?” asked the cat. “Because I am ad¬ 
vanced in years and my teeth are blunt and I 
like to sit by the fire and purr better than 
chasing rats, my mistress planned to drown 
me. I have managed to escape, but good ad¬ 
vice is scarce. Tell me where I shall go.” 

“Come with us to Bremen,” said the donkey. 
“Youunderstand serenading; you also can be¬ 
come a Town Musician.” 

The cat thought this a capital idea and went 
along with them. Soon after, the three run¬ 
aways came to a barnyard, and there sat a 
cock on the gate, crowing with might and main. 

“You crow loudly enough to deafen one,” 
said the donkey. “What is the matter with 
you?” 

“I prophesied fair weather,” said the cock, 
“because it is our good mistress’ washing day; 
but because tomorrow will be Sunday and 
company is coming, the mistress has no pity 


MERRY FOLK TALES 


253 


on me. She has told the cook to cut off my 
head tonight and put me in the soup tomor¬ 
row. Now I am crowing for the last time, 
and as loudly as I can.’’ 

‘‘Oh, you old Eedhead,” said the donkey, 
“you had better come with us. We are going 
to Bremen where you are bound to find some¬ 
thing much better to do than having your head 
cut off. You seem to have a good voice, and 
if we all make music, as Towq Musicians, it is 
bound to be striking.” 

The cock liked the proposal and they all went 
along together. 

But they were not able to reach the town of 
Bremen in one day and they came, in the eve¬ 
ning, to a wood where they decided to spend 
the night. The donkey and the dog laid them¬ 
selves down under a big tree, but the cat and 
the cock went higher, the cock flying up to the 
topmost branches where he would be safest. 

Before the cock went to sleep, he looked all 
around toward the four points of the compass, 
and he thought that he saw a spark shining in 
the distance. He called to his companions 
that there must be a house, for he could see the 
light in the window. The donkey said, “Then 
we must rise and go to it, for the lodgings here 
are very poor.” 


254 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

The dog said, ‘‘Yes, a few bones with a little 
meat on them would be welcome.” 

So they took the road in the direction from 
which the light came and soon saw it shining 
brighter. It grew more and more brilliant un¬ 
til they came to a brightly illuminated rob¬ 
bers’ house. The donkey, being the biggest of 
the travellers, got up to the window and looked 
in. 

“What do you see. Greybeard?” asked the 
cock. 

“What do I see?” replied the donkey, “I 
see a table covered with delicious food and 
drink, and robbers sitting around it enjoying 
themselves.” 

The animals consulted together as to how they 
might drive out the robbers and at last they 
settled upon a plan. The donkey was to place 
himself with his forefeet on the window-sill, 
the dog was to climb on the donkey’s back, the 
cat on the dog’s, and at the last the cock was 
to fly up and place himself on the head of the 
cat. When that was done, at a signal, they 
began their music all together. The donkey 
brayed, the dog barked, the cat mewed, and 
the cock crowed. Then, with one great smash, 
they dashed through the window into the room, 
the glass clattering as they came. 


MERRY FOLK TALES 


255 


At this dreadful noise the robbers jumped 
up thinking that nothing less than a ghost was 
upon them, and they ran away into the wood 
in the greatest fright. The four friends then 
sat themselves down at the table, quite con¬ 
tent with the food that was left, and they ate 
as if they were expecting to fast for at least 
a month to come. 

When the four musicians had finished, they 
put out the light and each one looked for a 
suitable and comfortable place to sleep. The 
donkey lay down in the garden, the dog behind 
the door, the cat on the hearth near the warm 
ashes, and the cock perched himself on the 
hen roost. They were all tired after their long 
journey and were soon fast asleep. 

Soon after midnight the robbers, watching 
from a distance, saw that the house was dark, 
and as all seemed quiet, the captain said, ‘‘We 
ought not to allow ourselves to be frightened 
so easily.’’ And he sent one of the band to 
examine the house. 

The messenger, finding everything quiet, 
went into the kitchen to light a candle and 
thinking that the cat’s fiery eyes were live 
coals, he held a match to them to light it. But 
the cat did not understand the joke; up she 
flew in his face, biting and scratching him. 


256 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

He was dreadfully frightened, ran away, and 
was going out of the back door when the dog 
who was lying there jumped up and bit his 
leg. As he ran through the garden, the donkey 
gave him a good kick with his hind foot; and 
the cock, being awakened, called out loudly 
from the hen house, ‘‘Cock-a-doodle-doo!” 

The robber ran as hard as he could back to 
the captain of the band, and said, “Oh, dear, 
in the house sits a terrible old witch, who blew 
at me and scratched my face with her long 
fingers. And by the door stands a man with 
a knife, who stabbed me in the leg. In the 
yard lies a black monster who attacked me with 
a club, and up on the roof sits a judge who 
called out, ‘Bring the rascal up here!^ so I 
made the best of my way back here.” 

From that time the robbers never trusted 
themselves again in the house. But the four 
musicians liked it so well that they could not 
make up their minds to leave it, and they lived 
out their lives there in peace and plenty. 



MERRY-HEART’S PARTY 


M ERRY-HEART, the smallest elf, had de¬ 
cided to give a party. 

You know Merry-Heart, of course, for you 
heard him calling out in the garden yesterday 
when everyone else thought that it was only 
the chirping of a cricket. You saw him flying 
over the garden wall in his new green suit, 
although others saw just a green dragon fly. 
And he came back at dusk with his lantern and 
bobbed about among the flowers just as the fire 
flies do. 

But you didn’t know why Merry-Heart 
chuckled. He had just moved into his new 
house under the lilac bush where there was a 
big toadstool dining table and several little 
toadstools to sit upon. The lilac flowers made 
a roof and leaves made curtains. It was just 
the place for a party, a house-warming party. 

257 


258 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

That was why Merry-Heart chuckled with 
happiness. 

And you did not know, either, why Merry- 
Heart flew away over the garden wall and was 
gone all day long, but this is why. He went to 
order the goodies for his party, and he had to 
go quite a long distance for some of them. If 
you had seen Merry-Heart’s pantry when he 
came home, you would have understood exactly 
what a fine feast there was to be at the party. 
The tiny, thin brown shells that Merry-Heart 
had gone all the way to the seashore to buy 
were little crispy, crusty tarts, every one of 
them. The wee, white stones were dinner rolls 
made of fairy wheat, of which no mortal has 
ever tasted the sweetness. The buttercup 
petals were pats of fresh butter, and the pink 
clover tops were clusters of fairy goblets, each 
one brimming full of nectar. There were 
small green cheeses from the meadow and 
scarlet and blue berries from the woods. 
Merry-Heart had swejot his house very clean, 
and then he had put an acorn cup filled 
with forget-me-not blossoms in the centre of 
his toadstool table. That was why you did not 
see him until almost your bedtime. 

Then, when Merry-Heart was bobbing 
about among the flowers with his lantern, he 


MERRY FAIRY TALES 


259 


was lighting the way to his party. No one saw 
his guests, and they were different from any 
other guests at an elf’s house-warming before, 
because they were not able to come in party 
clothes. They had no gifts to bring Merry- 
Heart, either, but he did not mind that. 

There was a fairy with draggled, torn wings. 
Some people would have thought her a butter¬ 
fly, almost ready to lay her eggs so that there 
might be other butterflies in the garden next 
summer. There was an old general who had 
lost a leg in battle, although almost anyone 
would have thought him a beetle who had been 
stepped on by mistake while he was guarding 
the lawn. There was a farmer who came in 
brown overalls, because he had no other 
clothes. If you saw him in the day time, you 
might think he was the cutworm who digs and 
digs in the kitchen garden, turning up fresh 
earth for the gardener. They were all like 
that, not stylish people, but good hearted, and 
just the right kind to make a house-warming 
merry. 

And it was a merry party. 

Every guest had a place to rest if he wanted 
to be quiet, or he could play or listen to the 
katy-did band that Merry-Heart had hired for 
the night. They had all that they could pos- 


260 


MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 


sibly eat, and a forget-me-not to wear, and 
they did not go home until the morning star 
shone down on them through the lilac bush. 

After his guests had gone, Merry-Heart 
realized that it was time for breakfast. Then 
he realized that he was not one bit hungry. 
He thought he would clean his pantry, and 
when he went to the place among the roots that 
made his pantry, he found it was clean. 
Every single bit of the party feast was eaten. 

‘H hope the tarts were all filled with wild 
strawberry jam,’’ Merry-Heart thought, “and 
there was enough butter for all the rolls, and 
that the clover nectar was sweet and the 
cheeses were not too strong, and the berries 
ripe.” 

Some people might wonder at these thoughts 
of Merry-Heart right after he had felt too 
full to eat any breakfast. He had really eaten 
nothing at his party; he had been too busy 
waiting on the others. 

But you understand why Merry-Heart was 
not hungry the morning after his house-warm¬ 
ing, don’t you? 


THE MUD PUDDLE ELF 


O NCE upon a time there was a queer little 
elf who liked very much to play in mud 
puddles. He liked to splash around in them 
after every rain and make mud balls, and it 
made no difference at all to him how much he 
spattered his suit or dirtied his hands. 

There were many other clean, useful things 
that this little elf might have done. He had 
been given a small hammer and chisel by his 
grandfather for cutting and shaping beauti¬ 
ful stones from the rocks. He had a small 
shovel for digging deep down in the earth and 
bringing up gold and silver. And he had two 
small, clever hands for keeping his house and 
garden neat. But he preferred to play in the 
mud and after a while all his neighbor elves 
gave him a nickname. 

They called him the Mud Puddle Elf. 

One night there was a soft, gentle rain that 
fell until morning. Then the sun came out 
and the little elf saw one of the largest mud 

puddles he had ever dreamed of in his front 
261 


262 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

yard. It was wide and black and soft and 
deep. He did not stop to wash his breakfast 
dishes, even, but went right outdoors to play 
in it. 

He jumped up and down in the mud with 
no rubbers on. He dipped up the mud in his 
hands and made soft round balls of it. He 
threw his mud balls over his garden wall with¬ 
out stopping to think who might be passing 
by. 

In the afternoon one of his neighbors leaned 
over the wall and spoke to the Mud Puddle 
Elf. 

‘‘Dear me, what a sight you are the neigh¬ 
bor said. “You are all covered with mud, and 
you won’t look fit to see the fairy.” 

“Fairy? What fairy?” the Mud Puddle 
Elf asked. They had been a little village of 
elves for many years and in all that time they 
had never so much as set eyes on a fairy with 
gossamer wings and a wand tipped with a 
star and wearing a gauzy dress. 

“Why, a butterfly courier just came to say 
that a fairy is on her way to the woods and 
would like to stop for tea at some house in our 
village,” the neighbor elf explained. “But 
of course she would never think of having tea 
with you,” he said, “a Mud Puddle Elf!” 


MERRY FAIRY TALES 


263 


‘‘Oh, I don’t know about that,” the Mud 
Puddle Elf replied rather boastfully. You 
see there is no mirror in a pudlle of mud so 
he couldn’t look at himself. “I have a very 
nice blue and white tea set left to me by my 
grandmother, and as soon as I finish this mud 
ball I will go in my house and wash the cups.” 

“You had better wash your face and your 
hands first,” laughed the neighbor, and then 
he hurriedly dodged behind the wall, for the 
Mud Puddle Elf threw a soft, fat mud ball at 
him. 

It did not hit him. It almost hit the fairy 
with gossamer wings and a wand tipped with 
a star and a gauzy dress as she tripped down 
the street. She had come a little sooner than 
she had been expected. But the Mud Puddle 
Elf did not know that, and he went in the house 
to wash his tea cups. 

“Oh, dear, what a narrow escape!” sighed 
the fairy. “If that mud ball had exploded 
an inch closer it would have spoiled my wings 
and my dress. I must go in some house at 
once and ask for shelter.” And, not knowing 
who lived there, the fairy went through the 
Mud Puddle Elf’s gate. It was a very nice 
gate, made by the Elf’s grandfather years be¬ 
fore of carved oak branches. But as soon as 


264 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

she was inside the fairy saw large muddy foot 
prints that went straight up to the front door. 
Then she saw that the door knob itself looked 
as if it were made of mud where the Mud Pud¬ 
dle Elf had taken it in his hand. 

It frightened the fairy very much indeed. 
She turned and spread her wings and flew, for 
that was the quickest way of reaching the 
woods, and she did not stop in any elf’s house 
to take tea. 

The Mud Puddle Elf washed and washed 
his tea cups, but the dish water was so muddy 
from his hands that he couldn’t seem to make 
them shine. He worked at them until long 
after tea time, and then he suddenly heard a 
commotion in his front yard. He went to the 
door and saw nearly all the elves in the village 
there, shaking their little flsts at him, saying: 

‘‘You frightened away the fairy. She 
wouldn’t visit any of us because of you. 
That’s what comes of throwing mud.” Then 
they went away and left the Mud Puddle Elf 
all alone. 

So he sat down on his doorstep and thought 
about it. And he made up his mind that he 
would let his mud puddles dry up, for it 
wasn’t good for himself or good for his village 
to have them. 


THE MAGIC SCHOOL BOX 


I T was twelve o’clock of the night before the 
first day of School and the Jack-in-the-Box 
jumped out of his box in the Toy Shop, look¬ 
ing all around with his sharp little eyes. It 
was the magic hour of twelve o’clock when no 
child may know what happens in the Toy 
Shop, because no one is there to see. 

At the same time the cover of the School 
Box slid open, and the sharp Pen Knife with 
the pearl handle opened and sat up. 

‘‘Good evening,” said the Jack, “And so 
here you are, ready for your great day tomor¬ 
row. I suppose the first thing that you will 
do will be to carve Jimmy’s initials an a brand 
new school desk.” The Jack liked to crack a 
joke now and then. 

The Pen Knife snapped back his reply. “I 
was made to sharpen pencils,” he said. 
“That was what I was made for, and that is 
what I shall do tomorrow.” And he said it 
so snappishly that up jumped the Pencil with 
the red, white, and blue coat in great excite¬ 
ment. 


265 


266 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

‘^Well, just see who is here!’^ said Jack, ‘‘a 
Pencil, all dressed up and ready to draw pic¬ 
tures of the teacher tomorrow, the first day 
of school.’’ It was hard for the Jack-in-the- 
Box to he serious. 

The Pencil leaned toward the Pen Knife. 
^‘Sharpen me,” said the Pencil, ^‘so that I can 
show this insolent fellow how well I can write 
and set down sums.” And Jack had to duck 
down in his box for a moment to avoid the 
shavings that the Pen Knife and the Pencil 
sent toward him. 

In the midst of this, the cover of the Ink 
Pot popped off, and up hopped Jack again, for 
here was such a good chance for a joke! 

^ ‘ Ready to spill again! ” he said. ‘ ‘ Another 
member of the Blot Family is going to make 
trouble on the first day of school.” 

The Ink Pot put on its cover again tightly 
and looked even blacker than usual as it an¬ 
swered Jack. 

‘^Ask the Copy Book about me,” said the 
Ink Pot in a thick voice, ^^ask her if I am not 
able to stick to the Pen and make a good copy 
without blotting.” And just then the Pen 
stood up straight, right there in the School 
Box and broke in on the conversation in a very 
sharp tone, ^‘The Ink Pot and I are friends,” 


MERRY FAIRY TALES 


267 


said the Pen. ‘‘We have been friends for a 
great many years and I won’t have him criti¬ 
cized. It all depends on me, of course, but he 
isn’t going to show his relationship to the 
Blots tomorrow.” 

“Hear!” gurgled the Ink Pot. 

In a far corner of the School Box lay the 
Bed Eraser. The Jack peeped down at Mm, 
“Stand up and show yourself,” he said. 
“You know how busy a day it is going to be 
for you tomorrow. Rub, rub, rub, that is what 
you will be doing from nine o’clock in the 
morning until three o’clock in the afternoon. 
Stand up and let us see how important you 
look!” 

But the Eed Eraser did not move. He 
spoke to Jack in a weak voice as he stretched 
himself for another nap. “Let me alone,” 
said the Eed Eraser, “I am a soft, lazy rub¬ 
ber man and I am not going to do anything on 
the first day of school except sleep. No one 
will need me. There isn’t going to be any¬ 
thing to rub out.” 

“Why do you tease them so?” the Circus 
Clown, who stood near by, asked the Jack-in- 
the-Box just then as the cover of the School 
Box slid shut again. “They know what they 
are about. They are going to make a record 


268 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

for themselves tomorrow.’’ The Clown could 
be serious if it suited him. 

‘‘Just for fun,” said the Jack, “you ought to 
know that, always joking yourself.” 

“But we never had a chance to go to school, 
Jack,” said the Clown a bit sadly. 


THE TOY GOOSE 


T here was the greatest excitement in the 
kingdom. A Elea, a Grasshopper, and 
a Toy Goose had decided to see which of them 
could jump the highest, and they had asked 
the entire world, and anyone else who might 
care to come, to see the frolic. The king, even, 
heard of it and he wanted to help with the fun. 

‘‘Well,” said the king, “I will give my 
daughter to the one who jumps the highest, 
for it would not be polite that these three dis¬ 
tinguished ones should go to so much trouble 
for nothing.” 

The first one to step forward was the Flea. 
He had very fine manners, and bowed low on 
every side, for he had noble blood in his veins. 
And more than that he associated only with 
human beings, which made a great difference. 

Then came the Grasshopper. He was cer¬ 
tainly the larger, and he carried himself bet¬ 
ter, wearing the smart green uniform in which 
he was born. Moreover, as he said, he be- 

269 


270 


MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 


longed to a very old family in Egypt and was 
also well thought of here at home. 

The fact was, when he was brought in out of 
the fields, he was put in a house three stories 
high, all made of court-cards with the colored 
sides turned in. Both doors and windows 
were cut out in the waist of the Queen of 
Hearts. 

‘‘I sing so well,” the Grasshopper said, 
^‘that sixteen native Crickets, who had chirped 
ever since they were born and still had no 
house of cards to live in, grew thinner than 
they ever were before out of vexation when 
they heard me.” 

So the Flea and the Grasshopper were able 
to give very good accounts of themselves, and 
saw no reason why they should not have the 
princess. The Toy Goose said nothing, and 
people decided that this was because he knew 
so much. The House-Dog sniffed at him, and 
assured all that the Toy Goose came of a good 
family. The old Councilor, who had been 
given three decorations for holding his tongue, 
said that the Toy Goose knew more than the 
man who wrote the almanacs, for one could 
see by the feathers on his back if it would or 
would not be a severe winter. This was more 


MERRY FAIRY TALES 271 

than one could see on the back of the almanac 
man. 

‘‘Well, I shall say nothing,” said the king, 
“although I have an opinion.” 

The jumping contest was to take place at 
once, so the Flea leaped up first. He jumped 
so high that nobody could see where he went, 
so they all said that he had not gone up at all. 
This was too bad. 

The Grasshopper jumped only half as high, 
but right into the king’s face by mistake, 
which the king said was most unpleasant. 

The Toy Goose stood still a long time think¬ 
ing to himself, until at last the people thought 
that he was not going to go up at all. 

“I only hope that he is not ill,” said the 
House-Dog, when, pop, the Toy Goose made a 
side jump, and came down right in the lap of 
the princess, who was sitting on a little gold 
stool close by. 

Then the king said, “There is nothing above 
my daughter. Therefore the Toy Goose has 
made the highest jump that there is. To do 
this one must have a good mind and the Toy 
Goose has shown that he had one. He has a 
mind of his own!” 

And so the Toy Goose won the princess, or 


272 MEKRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

it might be said that the princess was given the 
Toy Goose. 

‘‘It is all the same to me,” said the Flea. 
“She may have the old Toy Goose for all I 
care. I jumped the highest, but in this world 
a fine appearance is what people seem to look 
at the most.” Then the Flea went into for¬ 
eign lands and enUsted in the army. 

The Grasshopper sat on a green bank and 
thought about wordly things, and said, “Yes, 
a fine appearance is everything. It is what 
people like.” And then he began chirping his 
melancholy song from which I have taken this 
story, and which may, or may not, be true, 
even if it is printed. 


WHAT HAPPENED IN THE PIE 
COUNTRY 


T hey called it the Pie Country, because 
pie was the favorite article of diet among 
young and old. Pie-making was the main 
business of the Pie Country; you could smell 
them baking for miles around; apple, peach, 
beef-steak, lemon, and orange, pumpkin, and 
all the nicest flavors of little tarts—that is, if 
you were so lucky as to And the Country at 
all. And the children wore their hair crinkled 
around the edges, the pie-crust-cut the barbers 
called it. Suits and dresses were made of a 
strange, crisp brown stuff woven to look like 
pastry crust. And the highest office in the 
whole land was that of High Chief Pastry 
Cook. His rank was above that even of the 
King. 

It came to pass in one of the castles of the 
Pie Country that the little Princess had a 
birthday, and, to make her happy, a little 
Prince 'was invited to take dinner with her 
from a nearby castle. There never before, it 
seemed, had been such a wonderful birthday 

273 




274 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

party dinner. In the middle of the table stood 
a great tower made of puff paste, about which 
were little birds baked from the lightest kind 
of crust. Ribbons of pie crust stretched from 
this to the guests’ places. The Princess was 
dressed in a white party dress resembling 
meringue, and in front of her stood a thick, 
rich lemon meringue pie, her favorite flavor. 

According to the custom of the country, the 
Princess cut the pie in half, and a page, who 
stood behind her chair, took one half to the lit¬ 
tle Prince, who was the guest of honor dressed 
in his crusty best. According to the custom 
of the Pie Country, the Prince should have at 
once eaten his half of the lemon meringue pie 
with gusto, but he didn’t. 

Now instead of eating his pie, the little 
Prince made up a face and pushed his plate 
away from him. 

‘‘Oh, dear, what can be the matter?” asked 
the Princess. 

“I can’t eat lemon meringue pie,” explained 
the little Prince. “My favorite flavor is 
orange.” 

Well, that trouble was easily remedied. 
The Princess sent out orders, and in came a 
page with a large, rich, hot orange pie which 
he placed in front of the little Prince. Then, 


MERRY FAIRY TALES 


275 


according to the custom of the Pie Country, 
he cut it into thirds, one third for the little 
Princess, one third for his majesty, and one 
third for the butcher’s boy, who was next to 
him at the party table. The butcher held high 
rank, because he filled so many pies. 

But instead of eating his third of the orange 
pie, the butcher’s boy looked very much put 
out and pushed his plate ever so far away from 
him. 

‘‘Oh, dear/^ cried the little Princess, who 
was very kind hearted and wished everyone to 
have a good time. there anything the mat¬ 
ter with your pie'?” 

“Nothing,” said the butcher’s boy loftily, 
“except that it is not my kind of pie. I eat 
only a beef pie.” 

Well, that difficulty was quickly overcome. 
The Princess sent another order and in came 
two pages bearing a large, crusty beef pie 
which they placed in front of the butcher’s 
boy. Then he cut the beef pie into quarters, 
one-quarter for the little Princess, one-quar¬ 
ter for the little Prince, one-quarter for the 
apple woman’s child who sat next him, and 
one-quarter for himself. The apple woman 
held a very high office on account of raising so 
many pie apples. 


276 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

But instead of eating her quarter of the 
beef pie, the apple woman’s child began to 
cry. 

‘‘O, dear, dear/^ sighed the Princess, ready 
to cry herself, ‘‘what is the matter nowP’ 

“I eat nothing but apple pie,” sobbed the 
apple woman’s child. 

Of course anyone should have known that. 
The Princess ordered a deep dish green apple 
pie, with cheese, brought in, and it was set in 
front of the apple woman’s child. And the 
apple woman’s child cut it, according to the 
custom of the country, into five pieces, one 
piece for the little Princess, one piece for the 
little Prince, one piece for the butcher’s boy, 
one piece for the boy whose father had in¬ 
vented cranberry tarts, and one piece for her¬ 
self. 

Everything seemed all right then, for the 
cranberry tart boy loved cheese, but, instead, 
everything was all wrong. The guests just sat 
and looked in front of them and did not so 
much as touch their forks. No wonder. In 
front of each guest at the Princess’ birthday 
dinner stood one-half of a lemon pie, one-third 
of an orange pie, one-quarter of a beef pie, and 
one-fifth of a deep dish green apple pie. It 


MERRY FAIRY TALES 277 

was confusing. No one knew which to eat 
first. It was discouraging. No one wanted to 
eat so much pie at one time. 

There is no knowing what might have hap¬ 
pened then; the party might have been spoiled, 
or the Pie Country been taken off the map— 
anything as unhappy might have come to pass 
had not the Princess had a wonderful idea. 

She excused herself from the table, consulted 
with the High Chief Pastry Cook out in the 
kitchen, called in Simple Simon, the court 
jester, to amuse the guests, and had all those 
pieces of pie taken off the table. Then, after 
only a little while, a strange thing happened. 

The fiddlers struck up, the kitchen door 
opened, and in came the High Chief Pastry 
Cook bearing a great, steaming, crispy pie 
high above his head. Bowing low, he set it be¬ 
fore the little Princess, who cut it. As soon 
as the odor of the new pie reached them the 
guests began to sniff with delight. It smelled 
of lemon and orange and beef and apples. In 
addition, it smelled of all the other savory 
goodies of the Pie Country, spice, and sugar, 
and raisins, and currants and citron. 

The new pie tasted of lemon, orange, beef, 
apples, spice, sugar, raisins, currants and cit- 


278 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

ron. No one could speak until they had fin¬ 
ished the pie, to the last crumb of its rich, flaky 
crust. 

Then, ‘‘What pie is it?’’ they asked with one 
voice. 

“Just a mixture of all your favorite pies,” 
the Princess said sweetly. 

“Made Instant Needed. Curious! En¬ 
chanting!” boasted the High Chief Pastry 
Cook proudly. 

“Mince pie,” added the Princess, putting 
the first letters together. 

And that was the first mince pie, in the Pie 
Country, or anywhere else for that matter. 


THE PRINCESS WHO WAS 
CURIOUS 


‘ ‘ r T 0W shall we ever persuade the Prin- 

XJL cess Marigold to do her plain sew¬ 
ing?’^ sighed the Lady in Waiting. 

‘‘A princess should know how to sew/’ said 
her mother, the Queen. ‘‘She will never grow 
up to be a good queen if she is not industri¬ 
ous.” 

“Where is the Princess Marigold?” asked 
the Court Wise Woman. 

“I am afraid that her Royal Highness is in 
her Mother’s bedchamber, looking in the 
chests,” said the Princess Marigold’s nurse. 
“She went there from the castle larder where 
she had been opening the jam pots that the 
cook supposed were out of her reach.” 

“Ah, me!” sighed the Queen. 

And “Ah, me!” sighed the Lady in Wait¬ 
ing. 

The Princess Marigold’s nurse sighed over 
the curious ways of the Princess almost every 
time that she breathed, so she was not able to 
sigh any harder. 


280 


MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 


But the Court Wise Woman suddenlj^ had 
one of her very wisest thoughts and it made 
her eyes more tvdnkling and her smile wrinkles 
deeper. ‘‘Leave the matter of the Princess 
Marigold^s plain sewing to me,’’ she said, “and 
we shall see what we shall see.” 

The next morning the Princess Marigold 
awoke with the larks, for she had decided just 
what she was going to do. The day before she 
had poked into the jam pots and sampled plum 
and strawberry and orange and raspberry jam. 
She had also tried on her mother’s, the 
Queen’s, best lace collars and ribbons and put 
them back in sad disorder in the chests. Today 
the Princess Marigold had decided that she 
was going to climb way, way up to the tower 
where the Court Wise Woman had her rooms 
and see if a little, little key that she had found 
at bed time would fit the Court Wise Woman’s 
desk. She hoped that it would, because she 
was most anxious to see what was inside. 

But when the Princess Marigold came back 
to her own little pink and gold room after 
breakfast to get the key that she had hidden 
there, she was very much surprised. 

In the corner of the room, where it had cer¬ 
tainly not been before, stood a nice little cup¬ 
board, gilded, and carved in a pattern of birds 


MERRY FAIRY TALES 


281 


and butterflies. It stood on four little carved 
feet and it was just as tall as the Princess 
Marigold was. There was a glass door in 
front and through it the Princess could see a 
little blue enameled chest that might hold a 
new doll, or a bracelet, or something as charm¬ 
ing. 

^‘Por a Princess Who is Not Curious.” 
That was what a card which hung from the top 
of the cupboard said. 

Do you suppose the Princess Marigold 
stopped at that? Not a bit of it, for she had 
very, very curious ways. Looking to see that 
no one was watching, she tried her little key 
in the lock of the corner of the cupboard. 
Oh, it fitted! So the Princess opened the 
door and took out the little blue enamelled 
chest. 

This, also, was locked, but the key fitted it 
as well and she was able to open it. Inside the 
chest was a small box, and inside the box was 
a little silk bag. Inside the silk bag was a 
beautiful square of sheer, white linen just the 
right size for a pocket handkerchief. It was 
basted for hemming and there was a shining 
needle, threaded, and ready to start the hem 
stitching in it. There was a bright little silver 
thimble, too, and a pincushion in the shape of 


282 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

a strawberry, and a pair of tiny scissors in the 
bag. 

‘‘Oh, oh!’’ said the Princess Marigold hap¬ 
pily. “This is just what I have been longing 
for!” And then she sat down by the window 
and began to sew, more neatly and faster than 
anyone had ever been able to persuade her to 
sew before. She sewed so steadily that the 
sun was almost at high noon and the hemming 
was nearly finished before she looked up. 
When she did, it was because there was a rust¬ 
ling at the door. 

There stood the Queen and the Lady in 
Waiting and the Princess’ nurse and the Court 
Wise Woman. They were all looking at the 
open corner cupboard, and they were all laugh¬ 
ing! 

The Princess Marigold looked at it too, and 
then she looked at the sewing she had done, 
and which no one before had ever been able 
to persuade her to do. And the Princess 
Marigold laughed, too, for she saw that they 
had used her very curious ways to teach her 
industrious ways. But she was also a tiny bit 
ashamed. So she decided that she wouldn’t 
be curious any more, but industrious, as is fit¬ 
ting for any princess who wants to grow up 
into a queen. 


THE RUNAWAY PRINCE 


L ittle Prince John opened the gate to the 
garden, went out into the street, and then 
looked cautiously around and back. He was 
safe; not one of all the palace guards had seen 
him. His pockets were full of gold pennies, 
everyone stamped with the bright crown of his 
family. He was going to run away and have 
a good time, in his own way, and all by himself, 
for the rest of the day. 

He had made his plans quite early in the 
morning when the family had said that he 
might go out and play in the palace grounds 
alone, so he knew in just which direction to go. 
Prince John ran as fast as his eight year old 
legs would carry him to the shop of Master 
Sugar-and-Spice, the pastry cook. He bought 
frosted buns and currant buns, cherry tarts 
and plum cake, all of which he ate without a 
napkin and right there in Master Sugar-and- 
Spice ^s door. Then Prince John started on 
again. 

From here he went down to the street where 

283 


284 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

the Swineherds had their huts. There was 
ever so much soft, black earth here, and Prince 
John spent an hour making mud pies. Then 
he was up and away again. 

On and on he went, through the dust and 
through the briers, feeling at last rather cross 
and uncomfortable, for he had never done 
these things before. He met some rough boys 
who were on their way to gather apples in an 
orchard that did not belong to them. But the 
farmer had been there first, and the trees were 
bare. Prince John tore his stockings and 
bumped his legs climbing over the orchard 
wall, but the boys went on their way, shouting, 
and left him there. He was too much bumped, 
and too tired to gO' any farther. 

And just after Prince John ran away from 
the palace a messenger arrived there with a 
very precious package. In it was a crown. 
It was a very beautiful crown, just the right 
size to fit a boy’s head, and sent by Prince 
John’s grandfather, because he thought that 
the boy was old enough to begin wearing it. 
The crown had been in the family a long time, 
and it was made of gold. Shining in it, were 
some precious stones, a diamond, white and 
pure, a blue sapphire that shone for the truth 
of the family, and a glowing ruby that shone 


MERRY FAIRY TALES 


285 


for their fine, brave blood and family pride. 

‘‘Come in, Prince John, and try on your 
new crown,” the court cried, and then it was 
discovered that the Prince bad run away. 

At once a search for the runaway was 
started. The Court Wise Man went in one 
direction, asking of whoever he met, “Has 
Prince John passed by this way?” But the 
answer was, “No, only one of the pastry cook’s 
apprentice boys has passed by, his mouth as 
far as his ears all daubed with jam.” 

The Court Chancellor went in another direc¬ 
tion, asking of whoever he met, “Has Prince 
John passed this way?” But the answer was, 
“No, only one of the swineherd hoys has passed 
by, his hands all black with mud.” 

The Court Treasurer went in a third direc¬ 
tion, asking of whoever he met, “Has Prince 
John passed by this way?” But the answer 
was, “No, only a crowd of rough boys who take 
apples from the orchards of the farmers.” 

None of these could be Prince John of the 
family of the gold crown, with its diamond, its 
sapphire, and its ruby. So the court went 
home, and there was great despair. 

At last the Queen put on her walking boots 
and her oldest gown and started out to look for 
the Prince. And because she was his mother 


286 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

and loved him beyond words, she went on and 
on, farther than Master Sugar-and-Spice’s 
shop, farther than the street of the Swine¬ 
herds, and farther than the place where the 
boys started out for apples. At last she came 
to the dirty, tired, bumped little Prince John 
there by the orchard wall, and she kissed him 
and took him home. 

But when they reached the palace, no one 
would believe that he was the Prince. 

‘‘Look at his face, and his hands, and his 
stockings!’’ they cried. “No member of his 
grandfather’s family would do the things that 
he has been doing. ’ ’ 

But the Queen only smiled, for she was his 
mother and loved him with all her heart. 
“Only wait until I wash him and mend him,” 
she said. 

“And only wait until I show you how well 
I can behave!” Prince John said. So it hap¬ 
pened that he was able to wear the family 
crown after all. 


THE PRINCESS WHO SAW 
HERSELF 


O NCE upon a time, in the days when there 
were many kings and queens and princes 
and princesses, there was one little Princess 
who was expecting a visit from her fairy god¬ 
mother. It was going to be a great occasion, 
for her fairy godmother had not had time to 
pass through the kingdom since the princess 
was five years old, and now she was eight. 
The Queen said that she was quite likely to 
bring as pretty a gift as a wishing ring or a 
pair of silver slippers for the Princess. 

‘‘She is very fond of you, my dear,” the 
Queen said, “and she sent a letter to say that 
she is most anxious to know how you look 
now.” 

“Oh, I shall look very well indeed for my 
fairy godmother’s visit,” the Princess said. 
“I will dress up and look at myself in all the 
mirrors the day on which she comes.” 

With that the Princess went right on with 
the things she usually did, and dreamed about 

287 


288 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

a gold wishing ring and a pair of silver slip¬ 
pers. 

One thing that the Princess often did was to 
make pictures with ink at her father’s desk. 
The King objected to having her do this, so 
the Princess had to hurry and she left a huge 
blot of black ink on a sheet of clean white blot¬ 
ting paper. Another thing that the Princess 
liked to do was to tease her white Persian cat, 
and the cat had grown quite cross and scratchy 
because of it. He very seldom purred. Still 
another thing that the Princess liked to do 
was to play all day long without washing her 
hands, unless some one of the ladies in waiting 
actually insisted that she be tidy. Indeed she 
was often so dirty that her hands left prints 
on white doors. 

The Princess did all these different things 
on the day before the one when her fairy god¬ 
mother was expected, and she did one thing 
more. She climbed up on the castle wall in 
one of her best dresses and tore it. A large 
piece of the cloth was left in the thorns of the 
red rose bush that grew there. 

But on the morning of the great day the la¬ 
dies in waiting helped the Princess to dress 
in her white frock with the blue sash and her 



MERRY FAIRY TALES 


289 


blue silk socks and white shoes and blue hair 
bow. Her hands were neat and tidy and her 
hair was most beautifully curled. She looked 
at herself in her own mirror and in her 
mother’s mirror, and then she went down to 
the castle drawing room to look at herself in 
a long mirror there that reflected her from 
head to foot. Her fairy godmother had al¬ 
ready arrived, and the Princess intended to be 
the first one to see her. 

But the fairy godmother was making a tour 
of inspection of the castle. She had been the 
fairy godmother of the Princess’ mother, the 
Queen, also, and she liked to inspect the beau¬ 
tiful housekeeping of the castle. In her scar¬ 
let short-gown and mob cap and big spectacles, 
the fairy godmother went all over the castle, 
poking her cane into every corner. When she 
was through and reached the reception room, 
the entire court was assembled for the pre¬ 
sentation of the Princess, from the King down 
to the smallest page. 

In through the door hobbled the fairy god¬ 
mother, and she went straight up to the prin¬ 
cess and looked sharply at her through her 
spectacles. Then she turned away. 

“Where is the Princess?” she demanded. 


290 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDRrEN 

‘‘This is the Princess,” the Court Chamber¬ 
lain said, pointing to the little girl in white 
with blue bows. 

“Oh, no, you can’t make me believe that,” 
the fairy godmother said, “she doesn’t look a 
bit like the Princess. I’ve found out how the 
Princess looks.” 

“How, then, does the Princess look?” the 
Court Chamberlain asked, for every one was 
quite puzzled by this time. 

“She wears a torn dress,” explained the 
fairy godmother,“I saw a piece of it as I rode 
over the garden wall. She looks as cross as a 
Persian cat does when his tail is pulled. She 
has dirty hands; I saw their prints on the 
white doors. And I saw her picture in a big 
black blot on a clean white blotter. You can’t 
deceive me about the Princess. She isn’t 
here.” And the fairy godmother summoned 
the broomstick on which she rode and started 
home on it. 

How the court did laugh. The Princess 
smiled a little too, thinking of the joke. You 
see, she had always had the idea that a mirror 
was her only looking glass, and now she under¬ 
stood that she was reflected in many other 
places. 

“I must be sure that my fairy godmother 


MERRY FAIRY TALES 


291 


knows me the next time she comes,” the Prin¬ 
cess decided, and she did. What was more, 
the gold wishing ring and the silver slippers 
seemed just twice as pretty on her next birth¬ 
day, because the Princess had earned them 
instead of only dreaming about them. 


THE SWINEHERD 


T IERE was once a poor Prince, who had a 
kingdom which was quite small but still 
was large enough so that he could marry upon 
it, and that was what he wanted to do. 

Now it was certainly somewhat bold of him 
to say to the Emperor’s daughter, ‘‘Will you 
have me?” But he did venture it, for his 
name was famous far and wide; there were 
hundreds of princesses who would have been 
glad to say yes. But did she say so? Well, 
we shall see. 

On the grave of the Prince’s father there 
grew a rose bush, a very beautiful rose bush. 
It bloomed only every fifth year, and even then 
it bore only a single rose, but what a rose that 
was! It was so sweet that whoever smelled of 
it forgot all sorrow and care. And the Prince 
had a nightingale, too, which could sing as if 
all possible melodies were collected in its little 
throat. This rose and this nightingale the 
princess was to have, and therefore they were 
put into great silver cases and sent to her. 

292 


MERRY FAIRY TALES 


293 


The Emperor caused the presents to be car¬ 
ried before him into the great hall where the 
Princess was playing at visiting with her 
ladies in waiting—they did nothing else—and 
when she saw the great silver cases with the 
presents in them, she clapped her hands with 
joy. 

‘‘If it is only a pussy-cat!’’ she cried. 

But then out came the splendid rose. 

“Oh, how pretty it is!” said all the court 
ladies. 

“It is more than pretty,” said the Emperor. 
“It is charjning.” 

But the Princess felt of it, and then she al¬ 
most cried. 

“Fie, Papa,” she said, “it is not an artificial 
rose. It is a natural one. ’ ’ 

“Fie,” said all the court ladies. “It is only 
a natural rose.” 

“Let us see what is in the second case before 
we decide to be angry,” said the Emperor. 
And then the nightingale came out. It sang 
so beautifully that they did not at once know 
what to say against it. 

^^Superhe! CharmantV^ said the maids of 
honor, for they all spoke French, each one 
worse than the other. 

“How that bird reminds me of the late Em- 


294 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

press^ musical snuff box/’ said an old cavalier. 
‘‘Yes, it is the same tone, the same expres¬ 
sion.” 

“Yes,” said the Emperor, and he began to 
cry. 

“I really hope that it is not a natural bird,” 
said the Princess. 

“Yes, it is a natural bird,” said they who 
had brought it in. 

“Then let the bird fly away,” said the Prin¬ 
cess, and she would by no means allow the 
Prince to so much as see her. 

But the Prince was not at all dismayed. 
He stained his face brown and black, drew his 
hat down over his brows, and knocked at the 
door. 

“Good day. Emperor,” said the Prince. 
Could I not be employed here in the castle?” 

“Well,” replied the Emperor, “but there 
are so many who want places. Still, let me 
see; I want someone who can keep the pigs, for 
we have so many here.” 

So the Prince got the appointment to be the 
Emperor’s swineherd. He received a miser¬ 
able room, small, and near the pig-sty, and 
here he was obliged to stay. But all day long 
he worked, and when it was evening, he had 
finished a neat little pot with bells all around 


MERRY FAIRY TALES 


295 


it, and when the pot boiled these bells rang out 
prettily, and played the old melody: 

‘‘Oh, my darling Augustine, 

All is lost, all is lost/’ 

But the cleverest thing about the whole ar¬ 
rangement was that, by holding one’s finger in 
the steam from the pot, one could at once 
smell whatever food was being cooked at every 
hearth in the town. 

Now the Princess came with all her maids of 
honor, and when she heard the melody she 
stood quite still and seemed very much pleased. 
She, too, could play, “Oh, my darling Augus¬ 
tine.” It was the only piece she could play, 
and only with one finger. 

“Why, that is what I play,” said the Prin¬ 
cess. “He must be an educated swineherd! 
Hark-ye, go down and ask him the price of the 
instrument.” 

So one of the maids of honor had to go down, 
but first she put on a pair of pattens. 

“What do you want for the pot?” she in¬ 
quired. 

“I want ten kisses from the Princess,” said 
the Swineherd. 

“Dearie me; listen to him!” said the maid 
of honor. 


296 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

‘‘Well, what did he say?” asked the Prin¬ 
cess. 

“I really can’t repeat it, it is so shocking,” 
said the lady. 

“Well, then whisper it in my ear,” said the 
Princess. And the lady did so. 

“He is very rude,” declared the Princess, 
and she went away. But when she had gone 
only a little way, the bells sounded so prettily : 

“Oh, my darling Augustine, 

All is lost, lost.” 

“Hark-ye,” said the Princess, “ask him if 
he will take ten kisses from my maids of 
honor?” 

“No, thanks,” said the swineherd, “ten 
kisses from the Princess, or I keep my pot.” 

“How tiresome that is!” said the Princess. 
“But, at least, you must all stand around me 
so that no one will see.” 

So the maids of honor stood around her and 
spread out their dresses, and the swineherd re¬ 
ceived ten kisses, and the Princess the pot. 

Then there was rejoicing! All the day and 
all the evening the pot was kept boiling. 
There was not a kitchen hearth in the whole 
town of which they did not know its dinner, 


MERRY FAIRY TALES 


297 


at the cobbler’s as well as at the court cham¬ 
berlain’s. The ladies danced with pleasure, 
and clapped their hands. 

‘‘We know who mil have sweet soup and 
pancakes for dinner, and who has hasty pud¬ 
ding and cutlets,” they said. “What could be 
more interesting ? ’ ’ 

“Yes, but do not tell anyone,” said the Prin¬ 
cess, “for I am the Emperor’s daughter.” 

“Yes, we understand,” all the ladies replied. 

The swineherd, that is, the Prince, let no day 
pass by without doing something, and so he 
made a rattle next. When any person swung 
this rattle, he could play all the waltzes, hops, 
polkas, and other dances that had been known 
since the creation of the world. 

“Now that is superb!” said the Princess as 
she went past. “I have never heard a finer 
composition. Hark-ye! Go down and ask 
him what the instrument costs. But mind, I 
give no more kisses.” 

“He demands a hundred kisses from the 
Princess,” said the maid of honor who had 
gone dovm to make the inquiry. 

“I think he must be mad!” exclaimed the 
Princess, and she went away. But when she 
had gone a little distance she stood still. 
“One must encourage art,” she observed. “I 


298 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

am the Emperor’s daughter. Tell him he 
shall have his ten kisses as he did the last time, 
and the rest he shall receive from my maids of 
honor.” 

“Ah, but we don’t like to do it,” said the 
ladies. 

“That is all nonsense on your part,” re¬ 
torted the Princess. “And if I can allow my¬ 
self to be kissed, you can too. Remember, I 
give you your board and wages beside.” 

And so the maids of honor had to go down 
to the swineherd again, with this message. 

“A hundred kisses from the Princess,” said 
he, “nothing else will pay for my rattle.” 

“Stand round me then,” said the Princess, 
and all the maids of honor made a circle 
around as she kissed the swineherd. 

“What is that crowd down by the pig-sty?” 
asked the Emperor, who had stepped out on 
the balcony. He rubbed his eyes, and then he 
put on his spectacles. Gracious mercy, how 
surprised he was! And he was angry too. 
“Why, those are the maids of honor!” said the 
Emperor, “I shall have to go down to them.” 

He pulled up his slippers behind, for they 
were shoes that he had trodden down at the 
heel, and then how he did hurry! So soon as 
he came down to the courtyard, he went quite 


MERRY FAIRY TALES 


299 


softly, and the maids of honor were too busy 
counting the kisses, and seeing fair play, to 
notice the Emperor. Then he stood on tiptoe. 

^‘What^s that!’’ said he, when he saw that 
there was kissing going on. And he began hit¬ 
ting them on their heads with his slipper as the 
swineherd was taking the eighty-sixth kiss. 

‘ ‘ Be off! ” said the Emperor, now very angry. 

And the Princess and the swineherd were 
both expelled from the kingdom. So there she 
stood and cried, the rain streamed down, and 
the swineherd scolded. 

‘‘Oh, miserable wretch that I am!” said the 
Princess, “if I had only taken the handsome 
Prince! Oh, how unhappy I am! ’ ’ 

Then the swineherd went behind a tree, 
washed the stains from his face, threw away 
the shabby clothes, and stepped forth in his 
princely attire, so handsome that the Princess 
was fain to bow before him. 

“I have come to this, that I despise you,” 
said he, not returning her bow. “You would 
not have an honest Prince. You did not value 
the rose and the nightingale. But for a play¬ 
thing you kissed the swineherd, so here is your 
reward.” 

And then he went into his kingdom, and shut 
the door in her face, and put up the bar. 


THE BIRD THAT MADE THE 
PRINCESS LAUGH 


I T was a little wooden bird carved cunningly 
and well on the back of a sled. It bad a 
wooden tail and a wooden bill, wooden wings 
and wooden legs, but it was a clever little bird. 
And its cleverness makes this story, together 
with other things such as geese and a king, a 
princess, and Once Upon a Time. 

There was a princess who lived in a country 
of which no one remembers the name, and she 
was a most sorrowful princess. All day and 
sometimes all night she sat and wept, and she 
never by any chance smiled. No jokes could 
make her laugh, and her court ladies were kept 
busy embroidering handkerchiefs to hold the 
princess’ tears. It was a most serious matter. 

So the king of that country issued a decree 
that anyone who was able to make the sorrow¬ 
ful princess laugh should have a half of the 
kingdom in trust and the hand of the princess 
so soon as she grew up. But whoever failed 
in the attempt should be rolled in tar and aU 

300 


MERRY FAIRY TALES 


301 


stuck up with feathers afterward, a sorry 
sight indeed. And it is said that the king 
came to repent his decree, for he used up all 
the tar in the kingdom, and had to send abroad 
for feathers. No one could make the princess 
smile, and almost any one whom you met on 
the street had a feather or two still showing 
underneath his coat. 

In the same country there lived three 
brothers, Peter, and Paul and Humdrum, the 
first two smart young fellows, but Humdrum 
a simple lad, and considered of no account at 
home. And Peter decided that he would try 
his luck at making the sorrowful princess 
smile. He knew some funny songs, and he 
lived so far out in the country that he had an 
idea it would be an easy tmatter to make the 
princess laugh. 

So Peter’s mother gave him a bag of bread 
and meat, and his father gave him some 
money, and Peter set out. 

But Peter had not gone so very far on his 
way when he met an old woman walking 
through the woods and dragging a small sledge 
behind her. She seemed tired and weak, and 
she spoke to Peter: 

‘‘Will you give me a bite of bread and a 
penny?” the old woman asked Peter. 


302 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

‘‘That I will not/^ said Peter. “I have no 
more than I can spare, for I am on my way to 
win half of the kingdom and the princess’ 
hand to boot by making her laugh.” And 
Peter went carelessly on his way, whistling. 

But when Peter reached the royal city and 
was ushered into the palace and the presence 
of the king and the princess, his funny songs 
were of no avail. They only made the prin¬ 
cess call for a dozen more handkerchiefs to 
quench her tears. And Peter was dipped in 
tar, rolled in feathers, and sent home in such 
a state that his (mother used a whole keg of 
butter in cleaning him. 

Peter’s sad experience should have fright¬ 
ened Paul, but it did not. “Your songs were 
not funny enough,” Paul said to his brother. 
“The thing to do is to tell the princess funny 
stories the way I can.” 

So Paul’s mother gave him a bag of bread 
and meat, and his father gave him some 
money, and Paul set out. 

And Paul had not gone very far on his way 
when he met an old woman walking through 
the woods and dragging a small sledge behind 
her. She spoke to Paul as she had to Peter.; 

“Will you give me a bite of bread and a 
penny?” the old woman asked Paul. 


MERRY FAIRY TALES 


303 


‘‘Indeed no!’’ said Paul. “I need all my 
provisions and all my money, for I am on my 
way to win half of the kingdom and the hand 
of the princess when I make her laugh.” 
And Paul went on carelessly, not looking 
back. 

But when Paul was taken into the presence 
of the king and the court, the princess was not 
able to see the joke of one of his stories. She 
only cried over them, and called for two dozen 
fresh handkerchiefs as Paul was taken out 
and dipped in tar and rolled in feathers. 

It would seem as if the troubles of his 
brothers would have discouraged Humdrum, 
but he startled his family one morning not 
long after that by saying that he was going to 
try his luck with the princess. 

“Luck!” exclaimed his mother, “when you 
have never shown any cleverness at home. 
You are nothing but a simpleton, and I can’t 
spare any provisions for you other than one 
small loaf.” 

“And I can give you nothing but a penny,” 
said Humdrum’s father. 

So Humdrum set out with nothing but one 
small loaf and a penny, and no idea in his head 
as to how he was going to make the princess 
laugh. 


304 


MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 


He had not gone very far when whom should 
he meet but the same old woman drawing the 
same small sled behind her through the woods. 
And the old woman spoke to Humdrum, just 
as she had to Peter and Paul: 

‘‘Give me a bite of bread and a penny,’’ she 
said. 

Humdrum gave her all of the loaf that was 
left at once, and his only penny. “To laugh is 
enough,” he thought to himself, chuckling at 
the idea of having given away everything he 
owned. 

The old woman ate, and she pocketed the 
penny. “Where are you going"?” she asked 
then. 

“To the palace to make the princess laugh,” 
said Humdrum. 

“How will you do it?” she asked. 

Humdrum told her that he had not so much 
as an idea. 

“Perhaps I can help you,” the old woman 
said. “You may have my sled. Do you see 
the little wooden bird carved on the back? 
When you seat yourself on the sled, do you 
say: ‘ Pip, little bird! ’ and the sled will drive 
along until you tell it to stop. When any one 
touches the sled, the little bird will say, ‘Pipl’ 
Then if you call out loudly, ‘Hold on!’ there 


MERRY FAIRY TALES 305 

they will have to stay until you say to them, 
‘Let go!”’ 

Humdrum thanked the old woman for her 
gift, hopped into the sled, said, “Pip, little 
bird!” and off they went along the road as 
swiftly as if the sled were drawn by a pair of 
prancing horses. Many of those who saw it 
were so astonished that they were never able 
to close their mouths afterward, and others 
dropped off their noses, but little did Hum¬ 
drum care. He rode on merrily until night 
and then he stopped at an inn to rest. 

The guests at the inn saw him arrive, and 
they were very curious. Humdrum had tied 
the sled to his bed to keep it safe, but one of 
the maid-servants crept in to look at it. As 
soon as she touched the sled, “Pip!” went the 
little wooden bird, and “Hold on!” said Hum¬ 
drum. The girl was stuck fast then to the 
sled, quite unable to move. 

Soon another girl crept into the room and 
took hold of the sled in the dark. “Pip!” 
said the bird. “Hold on!” said Humdrum, 
and there she was, stuck fast also. And be¬ 
fore morning all the maid-servants in the inn 
had met with the same fate. » 

It was a good joke. Early the next morn¬ 
ing, before anyone was up, Humdrum took his 


306 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

sled out into the courtyard of the inn, hopped 
in, said, ^‘Pip, little bird!’’ and off they went 
with a string of girls hanging to the back. 
They ran as fast as they could and it was a 
funny sight, so odd that it attracted the atten¬ 
tion of a priest and a grave digger standing 
outside of a church on the way. These two 
men thought that the procession should be 
stopped. The priest ran after Humdrum, 
catching hold of the apron strings of the last 
girl. ^‘Pip!’’ said the bird, and ‘‘Hold on!” 
said Humdrum, and the priest could not let go. 

The grave digger followed the priest, catch¬ 
ing hold of his flying robe. “Pip!” said the 
bird, and “Hold on!” said Humdrum, and so 
the grave digger ran along behind. 

Presently they came to a blacksmith-shop, 
and the smith was standing beside the road. 
In one hand he had his tongs, and in the other 
a bundle of hay. He was a merry fellow and 
he laughed heartily when he saw the strange 
procession, reaching out with his tongs for the 
grave-digger^s coat tail. “Pip!” said the lit¬ 
tle wooden bird, and “Hold on!” said Hum¬ 
drum. So there was a blacksmith added to 
those who ran behind the sled. 

Just then some geese came walking slowly 
along as geese do, all in a row. They saw the 


MERRY FAIRY TALES 


307 


hay in the blacksmith’s hand, and the leader 
rushed after it. So did all the other geese, 
and as the little bird called, ‘‘Pip!” for each 
goose, and Humdrum said, “Hold on!” there 
was a long line of waddling, cackling geese at 
the tail of the procession. 

It seemed to Hntmdrum that he hardly 
looked fitting with this retinue to appear at 
the palace, but before he had time to turn 
about, there he was in front of it, and the king 
himself happened to be out on the balcony sun¬ 
ning himself. And when the king saw Hum¬ 
drum riding in the small sled with the little 
wooden bird sitting up as smart as you please 
on the back, and the girls, and the priest, and 
the grave-digger, and the blacksmith, and the 
line of geese on behind, how he did laugh! 

The king laughed so hard, and burst off so 
many of his buttons that the court came run¬ 
ning to see what was the matter, and out came 
the princess. She looked at the sled, and 
Humdrum, and the little wooden bird, and the 
others, and then she began to make an odd 
noise. 

“Bring about three dozen handkerchiefs!” 
said the court. “The princess is—” And 
then they stopped, for a strange thing had 
happened. “Laughing!” they said. Yes, the 


308 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

princess was laughing until she was crying, 
and she was always able to laugh after that. 

‘‘Stop!” cried Humdrum, and the sled 
stopped. “Let go!” he said, and the proces¬ 
sion disappeared, the geese cackling all the 
way. 

So Humdrum was not rolled in tar and 
dipped in feathers, but he was given half of 
the kingdom and the hand of the princess when 
she grew up. 


THE SQUIRREL FAMILY 

I T came swiftly along, in and out among the 
trees of the wood without difficulty, so 
small it was. The two tiny piebald ponies that 
drew it shook their wavy manes as they danced 
along, the little bells on their harness ringing 
softly. But the queerest part of it for the 
children, Rollo and his sister Maia, who were 
spending the afternoon in the forest, was that 
when the tiny carriage drew near they could 
see that a fairy godmother was driving it. 
^‘Jump in,’’ she said, nodding off-handedly. 
‘‘But how—began Maia. “How can 
Rollo and I possibly get into that carriage?” 
But almost before she had finished she and 
Rollo seemed to somehow melt a little, she 
found herself climbing into the back of the 
phaeton with Rollo beside her, the godmother’s 
whip went, crack, and off they set. 

They went fast, oh, so fast! In and out 
aimong the great looming pine trees their 
strange coachman made her way, without once 
wavering, so that the children felt no fear of 

309 


310 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

striking against the massive trunks, although 
the Christmas trees had never seemed so 
enormous. 

‘‘Godimother, godmother, don’t drive too 
far!” Rollo called at last, but as he and Maia 
turned around, they found that they were sud¬ 
denly standing on the moss. Godmother was 
no longer there. She and the carriage and the 
ponies had completely disappeared. 

It was dark in the woods, but a few steps 
brought them to a clearing. The moss was 
particularly beautiful, so bright and green 
that Maia stooped down to feel it. 

^‘1 suppose no one ever comes this way,” she 
said. 

‘‘Nobody but a fairy godmother and the 
squirrels,” Rollo answered, touching the trunk 
of a great oak tree close at hand. Suddenly 
there came a quick pattering sound, like the 
rush of many little feet inside the trunk. 
Then, with a kind of squeak, as if the hinges 
were somewhat rusty, a door, so cleverly made 
in the bark that no one would know that it was 
there, slowly opened from the inside, showing 
a dark hollow about large enough for one of 
the children to creep through on hands and 
knees. 

“Which of us shall go first?” Rollo asked. 


MERRY FAIRY TALES 


311 


lifting his red cap as he looked at Maia. 

“I think that you had better,’’ Maia said 
timidly, so Eollo, not wanting to seem back¬ 
ward, started, and Maia was soon comforted 
by hearing him call back, ‘‘How beautiful!” 

So Maia plunged bravely into the dark hole 
which led her to a short flight of steps which 
she easily climbed, and then a soft light broke 
on her eyes. 

They stood at the entrance to a short pas¬ 
sage quite wide enough for two to walk along 
it abreast. It was entirely lined and carpeted 
with moss and the light came from the roof, 
though how one could not tell, for it, too, was 
covered with another kind of creeping plant 
growing too thickly for one to see through. 
The moss was deliciously soft and springy to 
walk on. 

“Isn’t this a nice place?” Eollo said. “We 
might run races here all the afternoon!” 

But Maia called out to him,“Oh, Eollo, look 
at this!” 

It was a round room, moss lined like the 
passage, with a wide, round hole in the roof 
into which the children suddenly descended. 
As they waited, a basket descended like an ele¬ 
vator from the roof. It was fltted with moss 
cushions and big enough to hold them both. 


312 


MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 


In they got, and immediately the basket rose 
again and stopped at what in a proper house 
would be called the next floor. But even be¬ 
fore the basket elevator stopped, a number of 
brown heads were to be seen eagerly watching 
for it, and many little paws were extended to 
help the visitors out. 

‘‘Good day, good day,^’ squeaked a multi¬ 
tude of shrill voices; “Welcome to Squirrel 
Land! We have been watching for you ever 
since the fairy godmother sent her pigeon to 
tell us that you were coming. And the supper 
is all ready, the acorn cakes smelling so good 
and the chestnut pasties done to a turn.’^ As 
he made this speech, the fattest and fussiest of 
the squirrels made a duck with its head and a 
flourish with its tail, which were meant for the 
most graceful of curtsies. 

“Thank you, Mr. Bushy,’’ Maia started to 
say, but a squirrel who wore a large apron, 
stepped up close to the little girl. “Alas, my 
dear husband is ill with the gout today,” Mrs. 
Bushy said. “He ate too many pasties yes¬ 
terday. If he had one, he had ten,” she said, 
wiping the tears from her eyes with the corner 
of her apron,” and he is resting in the supper 
room. But you shall see him presently. And 
here are our children. Stand forward, my 


MERRY FAIRY TALES 


313 


dears, you have nothing to be ashamed of. Do 
look at their tails; did you ever see such tails!” 
And Mrs. Bushy’s eyes sparkled with pride. 
‘^Here they are, all nine of them; Nibble, 
Scramble, Bunchy, Friskit, and Whiff, my 
dear boys; and Clamberina, Fluffy, Tossie, 
and sweet little Curletta, my handsome daugh¬ 
ters.” 

At this each of the nine little Bushy chil¬ 
dren, who had collected in a row, made the 
same duck with the head and flourish with the 
tail that their mother had. 

“Such manners! Such sweet manners!” 
said Mrs. Bushy in an aside to Maia. 

Maia was by this time nearly choking with 
laughter, but she managed to keep it in as Mrs. 
Bushy went on speaking. “And shall we go 
in to supper now?” she asked, “I am sure that 
you must be hungry.” 

“Yes, I think we are,” Eollo said, “and I 
know how good your chestnut cakes must be!” 

“This isn’t the season for chestnuts,” Maia 
said; “aren’t yours rather old and stale?” 

Mrs. Bushy looked at Maia patronizingly. 
“Ah, to be sure,” she said, “you do not know 
anything about our magic preserving closets 
with all the latest improvements. Now lead 
the way, my dears,” she told the young squir- 


314 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

rels at which the nine set off with a rush, 
jumping and scampering along. 

Maia and Rollo followed into the supper 
room where, at the end of a long, narrow table 
covered with all sorts of queer dishes decorated 
with fern leaves. Father Bushy, in a moss arm 
chair, his tail comfortably waving over his 
head like an umbrella, sat. 

‘‘I beg your pardon, my dear young 
friends,’^ he began in a rather deeper, but 
quite as squeaky voice as the rest of his fam¬ 
ily, ^‘for receiving you like this. Mrs. Bushy 
will have made my apologies. This unfortu¬ 
nate attack of the gout! I am afraid that I 
eat too much. Do take your places at the 
table.’’ 

So everybody sat down, but the dishes in 
front of Maia and Rollo were filled with such 
strange looking food that they hardly knew 
how to be polite about beginning to eat. 

‘‘Could I have an apple, please?” Maia 
asked at last, catching sight of something of 
which she knew the name. And when Mrs. 
Bushy pressed her to try a chestnut cake, she 
did not like to refuse but took it, holding it in 
both hands on the way to her mouth as she 
saw the Bushy family doing. This gave the 


MERRY FAIRY TALES 


315 


squirrels a very good idea of the way the com¬ 
pany had been brought up. The chestnut 
cakes were really nice, but poor Rollo, having 
ventured to try some fried acorns which 
smelled ever so good, could not help making a 
wry face. 

Supper was soon over, and then Mrs. Bushy 
said that Maia and Rollo might go up the tree, 
which was much the same as if they had been 
invited to go out and take a stroll in the gar¬ 
den. She said that she was obliged to clear 
the table and wash the dishes, and Father 
Bushy did not feel able to leave his arm chair, 
but her nine young ones would lead the way. 

Now began the real fun of the afternoon. 
A short flight of steps, like a little ladder, led 
them to the outside of the tree. The nine 
Bushys scampered on ahead, squeaking and 
chattering in the greatest good humor, and on 
and up they all went. 

For a moment or two, when Maia and Rollo 
found themselves standing on a branch very 
near the top of the tree, though they found it 
wide enough to be comfortable, they felt giddy 
and frightened. 

‘‘How dreadfully high up we seem!’’ Maia 
said. “Rollo, how very much smaller we must 


316 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

have grown! The trees never seeimed so high 
or so huge before. It makes me dizzy to look 
up or down.” 

‘‘I think that we will get over it presently,” 
Eollo answered her. ‘‘Look at the Bushys. 
Isn’t it fun to watch them*?” 

And Maia forgot her fears in watching the 
nine young squirrels. No tight rope danc¬ 
ers were ever half so nimble. They swung 
themselves up by the branches to the very top 
of the tree, and then in an instant—flash— 
there they were ever so far below where the 
children were standing. And in another in¬ 
stant, like brown streaks, up they were again, 
darting here, there, and everywhere, so that 
the whole tree seemed alive. 

When they had worked off some of their 
spirits, they squeaked for the children to join 
them and Maia and Rollo did so at once. 
They were used to the tree now, and looked al¬ 
most as nimble as the Bushys as they held to 
the squirrels’ paws and tails, jumped, scram¬ 
bled, and slid up and down. Fancy the fun 
of swaying on the tip top branch of a big tree 
safely, for there were nine in a circle ready to 
catch them if they slipped, and then, hand in 
paw, to dance round the trunk holding on to 
the rough bark! Then, the sliding down the 


MERRY FAIRY TALES 


317 


tree, like a climber on a trapeze! The Bushys 
had a way of twisting themselves around so as 
to avoid the sticking-out branches which was 
great fun. When suddenly, in the middle of 
it all, a little tinkling bell, like that on the har¬ 
ness of the godmother’s ponies rang, they were 
sorry at the interruption. 

‘‘Goodbye, and thank you,” Rollo said, and 
“Goodbye,” said Maia, wondering if they 
should offer to shake paws with the squirrels. 

But before they had time to decide, 
“Quick,” said a voice behind them, which they 
could recognize as the saibae which had urged 
on the jDonies. “Slide down the tree.” So 
down they slid, giving a glance upward to see 
the nine Bushys sitting in a row on a branch, 
each with a pocket handkerchief and weeping 
copiously. 

“Up the path to the right,” the voice said, 
and as Maia and Rollo took that way there 
was a different look to the trees; they were 
much less close and thick than in the Bushys 
forest. The children were again their own 
size. They were, all at once in the home path. 

A dream, or a real visit, whichever it had 
been, what fim! 


THE GREAT SEA-SERPENT 


T here was a Uttle sea-fish of good family 
—^the name I cannot remember. He had 
eighteen hundred brothers and sisters, all of 
the same age. They could not remember 
either their father or their mother. They just 
had to take care of thejmselves and swim about. 

They had plenty of water to drink, the whole 
of the sea, and they did not worry about food. 
That always came of itself. The sun shone 
down upon the water, and lighted it up 
around them. It was a clear, great place filled 
with the most enormous creatures with great 
mouths which could have swallowed the 
eighteen hundred brothers and sisters. But 
they did not think of that either, for none of 
them had been swallowed yet. 

But as they swam about, doing their best 
and thinking about nothing, there sank from 
above right into the middle of them, with a 
frightful noise, a long heavy thing that did not 
seem to stop coming. Longer and longer it 
stretched itself, and some of the little fishes 
were squashed, and some of them were 

318 


MERRY FAIRY TALES 


319 


bumped. Fishes and snails, everything that 
swims noticed this dreadful thing, this im¬ 
mense, unexpected sea-eel, which had so sud¬ 
denly cotaae from above. 

What was it? We know what it was. It 
was the great, leagues-long ocean cable which 
was being laid between Europe and America. 

A pair of sea-cucumbers were so frightened 
that they lost their stomachs out, but they still 
lived, for they can do that. Many lobsters and 
crabs came out of their good harness, and had 
to leave their legs behind them. Among all 
this fright and commotion, the eighteen hun¬ 
dred brothers and sisters got separated from 
each other, and never met again, or knew each 
other. Only about a dozen remained together, 
looking round about, up and down, and seeing 
there in the depths the terrible thing that had 
so frightened them. It lay^ along the bottom 
of the sea as far as they could spy. It was 
very thin, but they fancied that it could make 
itself thick if it wanted to. It lay very still, 
but this, they thought, was due to its cunning. 

It came down from above. Up above would 
be the best place, then, to get news about it. 
So the fishes swam up to the surface of the 
water, and there they met a dolphin. He was 
a kind of acrobat, a vagrant of the sea who can 


320 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

turn somersaults on the surface of the water. 
He had no eyes, so they got no information. 
The dolphin only thought of himself and 
his somersaults. He said he had seen 
nothing and was then silent, and looked 
haughty. 

The little fishes spoke next to a seal, who had 
just then dived. ^ It was more polite, although 
it ate fishes. But it was just then full, and it 
knew a little more than the dolphin. 

‘‘Even if it is thin,’’ said the seal, “it is un¬ 
doubtedly the sea-serpent. It will soon come 
to itself and get its old thickness and bigness. 
I have never seen the sea-serpent, and never 
believed in it, but now I am sure that you have 
seen it,” and the seal dived. 

“We could swim down and investigate,” 
said the smallest of the fishes. On the way, 
we could get the opinions of others.” 

“I won’t make a single stroke with my fins 
to find out anything,” said one of the others, 
and they all turned about. 

“But I will,” said the smallest, and set 
bravely off into deep water, but it was a long 
way from where the mysterious thing lay. It 
had not gone very far when it met a young 
whale, frightfully big. 

“Don’t swallow me,” said the little fish, “I 


MERRY FAIRY TALES 


321 


am not even a taste, I am so little, and it is 
great fun to be alive.” 

‘‘What are you doing down here, where your 
family never comes asked the whale. And 
so the little fish told about the long, wonder¬ 
ful eel or whatever it was, that had come down 
from above and frightened even the most 
courageous of the inhabitants of the sea. 

“Ho, ho!” said the whale, sucking in so 
much water that he had to send out a huge 
spout of it when he went up to the surface for 
breath. “Ho, ho! that must have been the 
thing that tickled my back as I turned myself 
the other day. I will investigate it. I have 
nothing else to do.” 

So the whale swam forward and the smallest 
fish behind, but not too near, for there was a 
tearing current where the big whale shot 
through the water. 

They met a shark and an old saw-fish. 
They, also, had heard about the strange sea- 
eel, so long and so thin. They had not seen 
it, but they wanted to. And then along came 
a cat-fish. “I will go with you,” she said, “If 
the great sea-serpent is no thicker than an 
anchor rope, I shall bite it through with one 
bite,” and the cat-fish opened her mouth and 
showed that she had six rows of teeth. 


322 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

There it is!’’ said the whale, see it.” 

He thought that he could see better than the 
others, but he had made a mistake. It was 
only an immensely big conger-eel, several 
yards long, which approached them. They 
spoke to it about the new eel, and asked if it 
would go with them to investigate it. 

The conger-eel was willing. ‘‘If that eel is 
longer than me,” said the conger, “there is go¬ 
ing to be trouble.” 

“That there will be!” said the others, and 
they hastened forward. 

But just then something got in their way, a 
wonderful monster, bigger than all of them put 
together. It looked like a floating island, 
which could not keep itself up. It was a very 
old whale. Its head was overgrown with sea- 
plants, its back was thickly set with creeping 
things and so many oysters and mussels that 
its black skin was quite covered with white 
spots. 

“Come with us, old one,” they said, “a new 
fish has arrived, and we are after him.” 

“I would rather lie where I am,” said the 
old whale. “Let me lie. Please excuse me, 
I have some sort of illness.” 

“Eubbish!” said the shark, and they started 
on without him. 


MERRY FAIRY TALES 


323 


At last they came to the place where the 
cable lay. It had a long lair on the bottom of 
the sea, from Europe to America, right over 
the sand banks, the wilderness of sea plants 
and whole forests of coral. 

There lies the beastsaid the little fish. 
They saw the cable, whose beginning and end 
lay beyond the range of their sight. It lay 
without moving, but life and the thoughts of 
men were in it just the same. 

‘‘The thing is cimning,’’ said the young 
whale, “It is quite capable of hitting me in the 
stomach, and that is my tender spot.” 

The conger-eel laid itself down beside the 
cable, and stretched out as far as it could. 
“The thing is longer than I,” it said. “Are 
you fish or plant, or are you only something 
from above, dropped down by mistake among 
us?” 

But the cable answered notliing. 

“Will you speak, or be snapped up?” said 
the shark, and the little fish repeated this, “An¬ 
swer, or be snapped!” 

But the cable paid no attention. It had its 
own thoughts. It was full of thoughts. 

“On it! On it!” shouted the cat-fish, and 
showed all her teeth. 


324 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

“On it! On it!” said the sword-fish, the 
whale and the eel. 

They hurled themselves forward, the cat¬ 
fish first, but just as they were going to bite 
the cable, the saw-fish, by mistake, drove his 
saw with great force into the back of the cat¬ 
fish. That was too bad, for the cat-fish had 
no longer the strength to bite. Then there was 
great commotion down in the mud. Big fishes 
and little fishes, sea-cucumbers and snails ran 
into each other, mashed each other, and 
squashed each other. The cable lay still and 
did its work as it ought to, but the fighting 
went on. 

Then came an old sea-cow. Men call her a 
mermaid. This one had a tail, two short arms 
to paddle with, seaweed in her hair, and she 
was very proud of her appearance. And the 
sea-cow explained to them that the whole cause 
of their trouble, which did not say a single 
word for itself, was only an invention from the 
dry land. 

“Pit for nothing!” decided the others, all 
but the smallest fish. The little fish had its 
own thoughts. “The long, thin serpent is per¬ 
haps the most marvellous fish of the sea,” it 
said to itself. “I have a feeling that it is.” 


Company 



THE HISTORY OF DOCTOR WANGO 
TANGO 

O LD Doctor Wango Tango had a long red 
nose, and old Doctor Wango Tango al¬ 
ways wore green clothes; and Old Doctor 
Wango Tango lived by himself, all alone. 
When he went out to ride, he sat astride of a 
steed all skin and bone. 

Old Doctor Wango Tango also had a cat, 
and old Doctor Wango Tango let her sleep in 
his hat. And old Doctor Wango Tango wore 
a big red cloak and he had a long pipe, like the 
bill of a snipe, which he used to smoke. 

Old Doctor Wango Tango had a dog also; 
and old Doctor Wango Tango had a tame black 
crow. And old Doctor Wango Tango called 
his thin horse, Sam. His dog’s name was 
Towser, and his cat’s name was Mouser, and 
the crow’s name was Flippity Flam. 

325 





326 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

Old Doctor Wango Tango lived on a biscuit 
a day, and old Doctor Wango Tango got quite 
light this way. And old Doctor Wango Tango 
gave his animals no meat, though it sometimes 
came to pass that they found a little grass, but 
nothing else to eat. 

Now old Doctor Wango Tango went out one 
day to ride, and old Doctor Wango Tango had 
Towser running by his side; and old Doctor 
Wango Tango had Mouser sitting behind, and 
Flippity Flam flew around old Sam. Such a 
party you would seldohn find! 

As old Doctor Wango Tango rode to the top 
of a hill, there old Doctor Wango Tango met 
a wind, high and chill. Away blew old Doctor 
Wango Tango! Away blew his thin horse, 
Sam! Away blew Towser and Mouser! 
And away blew Flippity Flam! 


THE STORY OF LITTLE BLACK 
SAMBO 


O NCE upon a time there was a little black 
boy, and his name was Little Black 
Sambo. 

And his mother was called Black Mumbo. 
And his father was called Black Jumbo. 
And Black Mumbo made him a beautiful lit¬ 
tle Red Coat and a beautiful pair of little Blue 
Trousers. 

And Black Jumbo went to the Bazaar and 
bought him a beautiful Green Umbrella and 
a lovely Pair of Purple Shoes with Crimson 
Soles and Crimson Linings. 

And then wasn’t Little Black Sambo grand? 
So he put on all his fine clothes and went out 
for a walk in the Jungle. And by and by he 
met a Tiger. And the Tiger said to him, ‘‘Lit¬ 
tle Black Sambo, I’m going to eat you up!” 

And Little Black Sambo said, “Oh, please, 
Mr. Tiger, don’t eat me up and I will give you 
my beautiful little Red Coat.” 

So the Tiger said, “Very well, I won’t eat 
you this time, but you must give me your beau¬ 
tiful little Red Coat.” So the Tiger got poor 

327 


328 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

Little Black Sambo’s beautiful little Red 
Coat, and went away saying, ‘‘Now I’m the 
grandest Tiger in the Jungle!” 

And Little Black Sambo went on, and by and 
by he met another Tiger and it said to him, 
“Little Black Sambo, I am going to eat you 
up!” 

And Little Black Sambo said, “Oh, please, 
Mr. Tiger, don’t eat me up and I will give you 
my beautiful little Blue Trousers.” 

So the Tiger said, “Very well, I won’t eat 
you this time, but you must give me your beau¬ 
tiful little Blue Trousers.” So the Tiger got 
poor Little Black Sambo’s beautiful little Blue 
Trousers, and went away saying, “Now I’m 
the grandest Tiger in the Jungle.” 

And Little Black Sambo went on, and by 
and by he met another Tiger, and it said to 
him, “Little Black Sambo, I’m going to eat 
you up!” 

And Little Black Sambo said, “Oh, please, 
Mr. Tiger, don’t eat me up, and I’ll give you 
my beautiful little Purple Shoes with Crimson 
Soles and Crimson Linings.” 

But the Tiger said, “What use would your 
shoes be to me? I’ve got four feet, and 
you’ve got only two. You haven’t got enough 
shoes for me.” 


A MERRY COMPANY 


329 


And Little Black Sambo said, ^‘You could 
wear the(m on your ears.’’ 

“So I could,” said the Tiger, “Give them to 
me and I won’t eat you this time.” 

So the Tiger got poor Little Black Sambo’s 
beautiful little Purple Shoes with the Crim¬ 
son Soles and the Crimson Linings, and went 
away saying, “Now I’m the grandest Tiger in 
the Jungle.” 

And by and by Little Black Sambo met an¬ 
other Tiger, and it said to him, “Little Black 
Sambo, I’m going to eat you up!” 

And Little Black Sambo said, “Oh, please, 
Mr. Tiger, don’t eat me up and I will give you 
my beautiful Green Umbrella.” 

But the Tiger said, “How can I carr}^ an 
umbrella, when I need all my paws for walk¬ 
ing with?” 

“You could tie a knot in your tail and carry 
it that way,” said Little Black Sambo. 

“So I could,” said the Tiger, “Give it to me 
and I won’t eat you this time.” So he got 
poor Little Black Sambo’s beautiful Green 
Umbrella, and went away saying, “Now, I’m 
the grandest Tiger in the Jungle.” 

And poor Little Black Sambo went away 
crying,, because the cruel Tigers had taken 
away all his clothes. 


330 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

Presently he heard a horrible noise that 
sounded like O-r-r-r-rrrrrrr/’ and it got 
louder and louder. ‘^Oh, dear!^^ said Little 
Black Sambo, ‘Hhere are all the Tigers coming 
back to eat me up! What shall I do?” So 
he ran quickly to a palm-tree and peeped 
round it to see what the matter was. 

And there he saw all the Tigers fighting and 
disputing as to which of them was the grand¬ 
est. And at last they all got so angry that 
they jumped up and took off all the fine clothes 
and began to tear each other with their claws, 
and bite each other with their great white 
teeth. 

And they came, rolling and tumbling, right 
to the foot of the very tree where Little Black 
Sambo was hiding, but he jumped quickly in 
behind the umbrella. And the Tigers all 
caught hold of each others’ tails as they 
wrangled and scrambled, and so they found 
theimselves in a ring around the tree. 

Then, when he was quite a little distance 
away from the Tigers, Little Black Sambo 
jumped up and called out, ‘‘Oh, Tigers, why 
have you taken off your nice new clothes. 
Don’t you want them any more?” 

But the Tigers only answered, “Gr-r-r- 
rrrrr!” 


A MERRY COMPANY 


331 


Then Little Black Sambo said, you want 
them, say so, or I will take them away.’’ But 
the Tigers would not let go of each others’ 
tails, and so they could only say, ‘‘Gr-r-rrrrr!” 

So Little Black Sambo put on all his fine 
clothes again and walked off. 

And the Tigers were very, very angry, but 
still they would not let go of each others’ tails. 
They were so angry that they ran round the 
tree, trying to eat each other up, and they ran 
faster and faster, until they were whirling 
around so fast that you couldn’t see their legs 
at all. 

And still they ran faster, and faster, and 
faster until they all just melted away, and 
there was nothing left but a great big pool of 
melted butter round the foot of the tree. 

Now Black Jumbo was just coming home 
from his work, with a great big brass pot in 
his arms, and when he saw what was left of 
all the Tigers he said, ^‘Oh, what lovely melted 
butter! I’ll take that home to Black Mulnbo 
for her to cook with.” 

So he put it all into the great big brass pot 
and took it home for Black Mumbo to cook 
with. 

When Black Mumbo saw the melted butter, 
wasn’t she pleased! 


332 


MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 


‘‘Now/’ said she, “we’ll all have pancakes 
for supper!” 

So she got flour and eggs and milk, and she 
made a huge big plate of the most lovely pan¬ 
cakes. And she fried them in the melted but¬ 
ter which the Tigers had made, and they were 
just as yellow and brown as little Tigers. 

And then they all sat down to supper. And 
Black Mumbo ate twenty-seven pancakes, and 
Black Jumbo ate fifty-five, and Little Black 
Sambo ate one hundred and sixty-nine, be¬ 
cause he was so hungry. 


FUNNY JACK 


O NCE upon a time, long, long ago in merry 
England there lived a poor widow and 
her only son. Jack. Now, Jack was a well 
meaning boy, but his eyes were always on the 
sky and the larks instead of upon the ground 
where they should have been. And Jack was 
a heedless lad, but funny for all that. 

^‘Jack will never be of any use in the 
world,’’ sighed the villagers. 

And was he of use Well, just you wait and 

hear! 

It was a fine day in spring and Jack, who 
should have been at home digging the garden, 
was off on a jaunt through the pretty lanes. 
And who should he meet up with but a kindly 
disposed farmer, who gave Jack a penny. 
Jack started for home as fast as he could go 
with the penny held tight in his fist. ‘‘Look, 
Mother, what I have brought you,” he shouted 
as soon as he came to the garden gate. But, 
oh, when Jack opened his fist there was no 
penny there. 


334 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

‘‘How did you bring home your penny, 
son^’’ asked Jack^s mother. 

“So, in my fist,’’ said Jack. 

“Ah, that was where you were wrong,” said 
his mother. “When you bring home a bit of 
money like that you should carry it fast in 
your pocket.” 

‘ ‘ All right, Mother, ’ ’ Jack said. “ I ’ll mind 
me of that.” 

Well, it happened that shortly after that, 
J ack was again out in the lane, and who should 
he meet up with but the dairy maid of the 
farmer who had given him the penny. And 
she, seeing J ack for a merry faced, good look¬ 
ing boy, gave him a nice round cheese from her 
basket to take home to his mother. “Carry it 
carefully, lad, for it is fresh,” said she. 

“I will, and thank you kindly,” said Jack, 
remembering a part of what his mother had 
told him, and with that he stuffed the cheese 
tight down in his pocket and started off home. 

The day was warm, and J ack loitered a bit 
on the way. When he reached home, where 
was the cheese? 

“What is this you have done to your fine, 
clean clothes, son?” asked his mother looking 
at the melted cheese running down Jack even 
to his toes. 


A MERRY COMPANY 


335 


‘‘I brought you a nice, fresh cheese, 
Mother,” said Jack. 

‘‘Dear me. Jack,” said his mother, “Don’t 
you know that when you bring home a freshly 
made cheese, you should stand it on your head 
and then make haste on the way % ’ ’ 

“All right. Mother,” said Jack, “I’ll mind 
me of that.” 

Well, it happened that a little while after 
that. Jack met up with the same pretty dairy 
maid who had given him the cheese, and she, 
liking his looks again and his pleasant man¬ 
ner of speaking, gave him a jug of creamy 
milk. “Carry it carefully, lad,” said she, 
“for it is brimming full.” 

“I will, and thank you kindly,” said Jack. 

He thought of what his mother had told him, 
but not all, so he set the jug of milk upon his 
head, and off he ran home. The jug tipped 
and rolled about, and the milk poured down 
Jack’s neck and into his ears. There was 
scarcely a drop left in the jug when he came 
home. The milk was all on himself. 

“What have you done to yourself now?” 
asked his mother. 

“I brought you a jug of rich, creamy milk. 
Mother,” said Jack. 

“Dear me. Jack,” said his mother. “Don’t 


336 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

you know that when you bring home a jug of 
milk you should come slowly, with the jug held 
tightly in your two hands about the neck of 
itr^ 

‘‘All right, Mother,” said Jack. “I’ll mind 
me of that.” 

Now it happened that Jack went for a walk 
shortly after that, and he found a little gray 
cat near a barn. “She will grow into a fine 
mouser,” he thought. “I’ll take her home to 
Mother.” 

So Jack remembered what his mother had 
told him, but not all. He gripped the cat by 
her neck, and holding her so he went slowly 
home. But, ah, the cat was dead when he got 
there. 

“Poor puss!” said his mother, “why did 
you bring home a dead cat, son'^” 

“To catch mice,” said Jack. “She was 
alive when I started.” 

“Dear me, have you no wits?” asked his 
mother, well nigh out of patience with Jack. 
“Do you not know that you should tie a string 
to an animal and lead it gently behind you 
along the road?” 

“All right, Mother, ’ ’ said J ack. “ I ’ll mind 
me of that.” 

Well, in a few days. Jack went to market. 


A MERRY COMPANY 


337 


and the butcher, knowing his mother for a poor 
widow, gave Jack a leg of mutton. ‘‘It will 
make a tasty pot full,” he said. “Take it 
home carefully.” 

“I will,” said Jack, “and thank you 
kindly.” 

So what did Jack do but tie a string to the 
leg of mutton and drag it home slowly in the 
road behind him. When he came home there 
was naught left but the bone. 

“What is this, son?” asked his mother. 

“A leg of mutton I brought you,” replied 
Jack. 

“Now I know that you have no wits,” said 
his mother, looking at the dusty bone and the 
string. “Don’t you know that the way to 
bring home a fine piece of meat like that is on 
your shoulder?” 

‘ ‘ All right. Mother, ’ ’ said Jack. “ I ’ll mind 
me of that.” 

Well, one day not long after that. Jack was 
made a present of a little donkey. “Two of 
a kind,” said the man who gave him the 
donkey, “and I don’t need it.” 

“The very thing for Mother,” said Jack. 
“I’ll make her a small cart and this donkey 
will draw her to church on Sunday.” 

He felt very much pleased with himself. 


338 


MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 


‘^Take it home carefully,” said the man, 
knowing how the donkey could kick. 

‘‘I will,” said Jack, ‘^and thank you 
kindly,” and with that, what did he do, but lift 
the donkey upon his shoulders. 

This was more than the donkey could stand. 
He began to bray and kick, and kick and bray. 
He was a hard load, but Jack, thinking he was 
doing his mother’s bidding, went on; and the 
farther he went, the more the donkey kicked. 

It happened that there was a sad little prin¬ 
cess living in the castle Just beyond the vil¬ 
lage. Never had she been able to speak, and 
no one could tell why, or what ailed her. The 
king, her father, had sent to the uttermost 
ends of the country for doctors, and they all 
said the same thing, that they couldn’t help the 
princess in spite of the half of his wealth the 
king offered for her cure. 

There she sat in her high window, looking 
out at the flowery lanes, the sunshine, and the 
larks, and not saying a word, or smiling. At 
least, until she saw funny Jack coming along 
with the donkey on his back. 

Then, how the dumb little princess laughed! 
And she couldn’t stop talking as she pointed 
at the funny sight and called all her ladies to 
see Jack, too. ‘‘Whom is she talking about?” 


A MERRY COMPANY 


339 


asked the king. ‘‘No matter who he is, bring 
him in, and give him half of my riches.’’ 

So Jack and his donkey were brought into 
the castle, and Jack was made rich and im¬ 
portant. “I’ll carry this gold home to 
Mother,” he told the king.” 

“No, you had better let me,” said the prin¬ 
cess, which was really the safer way. 


LITTLE DAME DOT 



ITTLE Dame Dot was a wee old woman— 


JLJ the wee-est old woman 3^ou ever saw. 
She was so little, and so thin, and so light that 
it did almost seem as though you might give 
her a ride on a feather. And you would never 
dare draw a deep breath in the same room with 
her, for fear that the draft from it would blow 
her up the chimney. 

Little Dame Dot was quite alone in the world, 
and her sole comfort and care were a pair of 
bright knitting needles. These, the good 
towns-folks said, were never out of her hands 
except on Sunday, and even then she kept her 
fingers in motion from mere habit, though her 
eyes were intently fixed on the minister 
through the entire service. 

At other times, sitting or walking, silent or 
talking, morning, noon, and night, little Dame 
Dot was always knitting. If she had knitted 
all her stitches in a straight row, they would 
certainly have reached around the world. But 
she knitted round and round for stockings, and 


340 


A MERRY COMPANY 


341 


up and down for blankets, and back and forth 
for mufflers—clickety, clickety, clack. 

Whenever little Dame Dot walked abroad, 
she carried her knitting with her, and in windy 
weather all the people would say, ‘‘Little 
Dame Dot will surely blow away!^^ But she 
didn’t, and she didn’t, until nobody really 
thought that she would, or that anything of 
the kind would ever happen to her. 

But once upon a time, when the wind blew, 
and blew, and blew, something did happen. 

Little Dame Dot took her walk and her knit¬ 
ting, thinking of nothing but the gray yarn 
and the shining needles, although all the 
breezes were out playing tag with the leaves 
and the sticks and the papers on the walks, 
and slamming doors and windows in people’s 
faces. A little breeze took her off her feet 
the minute she appeared on her door-step; but 
it set her down all right, and off she went say¬ 
ing to herself and to her needles; “One, two, 
seam. One, two, three.” And the needles 
went clickety, clickety, clack. 

Just as little Dame Dot reached the white 
church with the tall spire, a stronger breeze 
than the others caught her up in its airy arms 
and, quick as a wink, it carried her up into 
the sky and out of sight, needles and all, ex- 


342 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

cept the ball of gray yarn which she let drop 
in her hasty flight. 

Soon after, down the street came little Billy 
Baker. ‘‘What ever is this"?’’ he said as he 
tried to pick np a ball that was flying along 
on the street like mad, all by itself. 

“Whatever is it?” asked fat Tommy Tubbs, 
coming home from school with a slate in one 
hand and a green apple in the other. 

“Whatever is it?” chimed in Polly Plopps, 
going by in a red cape, with her skirts all 
a-flutter. 

“It’s a hall of yarn!” said Billy. 

“It’s a ball of yarnV^ said Tommy. 

“It is a ball of yarn!” said Polly. 

Where is the end?” asked Billy. 

“Where is the end?’’ asked Tommy. 

“Where is the end?” asked Polly. 

Then all the other boys and girls came along, 
and the men and women from round about to 
see what Billy and Tommy and Polly were 
talking about. 

“See! See!” said somebody, pointing up 
to the steeple. And there they saw a little 
speck, like a very small cloud, way up in the 
sky. 

“It is little Dame Dot!” said Billy. 

“It is little Dame Dot!” said Tommy. 


A MERRY COMPANY 


343 


‘‘It is little Dan^e Dot!’’ said PoUy. 

“So it is,” shouied the crowd, “and this is 
her ball of yarn.” 

“Let’s wind her down,” said Billy. 

“Yes, wind her down,” said Toonmy and 
Polly and the crowd. 

So some of them pulled, and some of them 
wound, and little Dame Dot grew bigger and 
bigger, and came nearer and nearer until at 
last everyone could see her knitting away the 
same as ever, and as if one of the queerest 
things in the world had not just happened to 
her. Pretty soon they could hear her say; 
“One, two, seam. One, two, three.” Then 
she touched the ground, made a low courtesy, 
and thanked everbody and told them how kind 
they were. After which she walked oif home 
still counting to herself; “One, two, seam.” 

Billy Baker said, ^^Well, I never!” 

Tommy Tubbs said, “Well I never 

Polly Plopps said, “Well, I never!” 

And the crowd said, “Well, we never!” 

Then Billy Baker spoke, “Something must 
be done, or little Dame Dot will blow away 
again some day and never come back, and 
whatever should we do in the village for 
blankets?” 

“And mittens,” said Tommy. 


344 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

‘‘And garters,’^ said Polly. 

“And stockings/’ said the crowd. 

“Why not put weights on her?” somebody 
suggested. 

“Oh, yes, we will put weights on her,” 
everybody shouted. 

And they did. Never since that windy day 
has wee Dame Dot ventured abroad without 
one little iron weight hung from her neck, and 
two little iron weights tied to her elbows, and 
three little iron weights sewed to her petti¬ 
coats. And she knits, one, two, seam; one, 
two, three. And her shining needles go click- 
ety, clickety, clack. 


THE OBSTINATE WEATHERCOCK 


H OW did the ship happen to be up there 
among the mountains^ That no one 
could say; but everybody could see it upon the 
school house belfry, and everybody did see it. 

‘‘We shall have a storm today. The old 
ship is sailing east,^’ the people would say as 
they looked up at it. Or, “Fair weather to¬ 
day. The ship is looking westward.’’ 

When the bell in the belfry rang the chil¬ 
dren into school, the ship trembled, but it kept 
on its course, always in the teeth of the wind. 
And what was its courseAh, that is what 
its captain sometimes wondered. 

It was a full-rigged ship, all sails set, and 
the captain standing at the poop. He always 
stood there, rain or shine, fair weather or foul, 
morning, noon, and night, such a faithful cap¬ 
tain was he. His hands were in his pockets, 
and his tarpaulin was cocked on the side of his 
head. Captain Prim, the children called him. 
Captain Prim had always sailed this ship. He 
could not remember the time when he had 

345 


346 


MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 


sailed any other. It was a long memory, too, 
that the captain had. He could remember the 
time when he lived in the same house with a 
golden cock, a galloping horse, and a locomo¬ 
tive! Where were they now? Gone, no one 
knew where, while the captain was still sailing 
the ship. You may believe that he thought 
none the worse of himself for that. 

Captain Prim was always ready to put his 
ship about whenever he saw a change of wind 
coming. At the slightest touch on his bronzed 
cheek, he would sing out: ^‘Haul away on the 
main sheet! Belay there!’’ And round the 
ship would come, and the captain would look 
straight ahead and be ready for the next tack. 

Whither was he bound? Ah, that is the 
question. You could not have got it from the 
captain, but I will tell you. Although he 
looked so sturdy and ready, deep down in his 
brave little heart was the captain’s secret— 
he wanted to get out on the open sea. It vexed 
him to be always in sight of land. He couldn’t 
get away from the hills and mountains all 
about him, and once in a great while, when 
there was a fog, he was terribly anxious lest 
his ship should go on the rocks. 

So it was that, day and night, he kept at 
his post and sailed in the teeth of the wind, for 


A MERRY COMPANY 


347 


those were his sailing orders. But one day 
he was surprised by seeing a small round head 
looking at him over the deck’s rail. 

say there,” said the head, ‘‘do you want 
a passenger?” and before the captain could 
answer, the stranger had climbed over the rail 
and stood on the deck, where he stopped and 
shook himself. “Pretty dusty, eh!” he said. 

“Who are you?” growled the captain. 
“Land lubber! Busty out at sea!” 

“Hear him!” laughed the passenger. 
“Why, Captain, you haven’t started yet.” 

“When you are as old as I am, young 
stranger,” began Captain Pripi. 

“When you’ve traveled as far as I have,” 
interrupted the passenger, “you’ll know 
whether it is dusty or not.” 

Captain Prim longed to ask him where he 
had come from, but his pride prevented him. 

“Maybe it isn’t dusty between here and 
Colorado,” went on the passenger. “Maybe 
those hills aren’t pretty rough climbing. I’m 
tired of it. I’m ready for a voyage. Pull up 
your anchor and weigh it. Oh, I know a thing 
or two about a ship. Just weigh your anchor 
and see how heavy it is. Captain.” 

“Who are you anyway?” asked the captain, 
his curiosity getting the better of his pride. 


348 MERUY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

‘‘I? Didn^t you ever see one of my family 
before? Why, I am a Potato Bug! IVe had 
enough of this country. I want to go 
abroad.’’ 

Just then the wind veered a little bit. 
^^Haul away on the main sheet!” shouted the 
captain. ‘ ‘ Belay there! ’ ’ 

The Potato Bug, not seeing any one at work, 
poked his head down the hatchway and re¬ 
peated the order, adding, ‘‘I say, mate, the 
captain wants you up here.” But no one an¬ 
swered. ‘‘Well, this is a ghostly ship!” said 
the Potato Bug. “I’m not going to work my 
passage.” 

“Belay there!” called the captain a second 
time as the ship veered round and then stood 
still again. 

“Oh, we’re starting now, are we?” said the 
passenger. “This is more comfortable,” and 
he crossed two of his legs. “But I say. Cap¬ 
tain,” he began again pretty soon, “we don’t 
get ahead. I’ve been watching that meeting 
house and it doesn’t move an inch. It ought 
to. It ought to look as if it was moving. I 
know something about sailing.” 

“Mind your business!” said the captain, 
badly frightened. He, too, had always had an 


A MERRY COMPANY 


349 


eye on that meeting house when the wind was 
in the west, and it had bothered him that he 
never seemed to get by it. 

“Well, I think I will get out of this Flying 
Dutchman,’’ said the Potato Bug, getting up 
and climbing over the rail. “I’m a live one, 
I am. I’m used to getting ahead in the world. 
You may stay here and sail nowhere if you 
want to, but as for me—good-bye!” and he 
dropped over the side. 

“He’s an ignorant land lubber,” said Cap¬ 
tain Prim breathing more freely, but not dar¬ 
ing yet to look at the meeting house again. 
He could see the Potato Bug, a distant speck 
out at the end of the school house roof, and 
then he was gone entirely. But Captain 
Prim, now that he was alone, kept firmly at 
his post. His hands were in his pockets, his 
tarpaulin was cocked on one side, and he kept 
his ship head on to the wind. Obstinate fel¬ 
low! 

And what became of the Potato Bug? He 
had more traveling to do. He thought he 
would just look off over the roof of the school 
house and make up his mind where to go next, 
but it made him dizzy, and down he tumbled 
to the ground. 


350 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

Young Mr. McPherson found him there, ly¬ 
ing on his back with his feet waving in the air. 
He was not able to turn over alone. 

That’s a fine fellow to study!” said Mr. 
McPherson. ‘H’ll send him home to the old 
folks.” 

But the old folks lived in Scotland, and so 
the Potato Bug had to travel across the ocean 
in an envelope. In the darkness of that sealed 
envelope, he thought of Captain Prim. 

‘^Perhaps he knew what he was about. 
Perhaps he knew his duty and was doing it,” 
the Potato Bug said faintly to himself. ‘Hf 
ever I go to sea again. I’ll go in Captain 
Prim’s ship.” 

But the Potato Bug never went to sea again. 
He died of too much travel. 


CREAMIE RICE PUDDING TRIES TO 
BE CHARMING 


EAR me,’’ said Creamie Rice Pudding, 

JL/ ‘‘it is all very well to be good and whole¬ 
some, but I would like to be charming for a 
change! I wonder how it is that the other 
Desserts do it?” Full of this thought, she 
put on her things and went over to call on the 
Ice Creams, who, as everybody knows, are as 
fascinating as can be. 

“What makes one attractive?” said Vanilla 
Ice Cream, after Rice Pudding had asked her, 
“Why, being very cold, of course. You must 
go and sit a little while in our freezer, and 
then every one will love you.” 

So Creamie Rice Pudding went and sat in 
the Ice Creams’ freezer until she caught a 
dreadful cold, but when she came out, shiver¬ 
ing and shaking, no one seemed to find her a 
bit more charming than before. 

So she decided that she would go over and 
call on Mrs. Plum Pudding, who!m everybody 
liked so much, and ask her what to do about 
it. 


351 


352 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

‘‘How to grow attractive?” asked Mrs. 
Plum Pudding, “Why, that is the easiest thing 
in the kitchen. You must be very hot. I’ll 
give you the chance myself; you may fake a 
Turkish bath in my steaming bag and see if 
that won’t make all the difference in the world 
in you, my dear.” 

So Creamie Eice Pudding steamed herself 
for several hours in Mrs. Plum Pudding’s bag. 
But when she came out, in spite of being very 
uncomfortable, she was the same, simple Rice 
Pudding as before. 

Quite in despair, Creamie looked at herself 
in her mirror, and kept on wondering what she 
could do to make people like her better. 
After a while she [made up her mind that she 
would go and see the Pies to try and find out 
in what lay their charm. 

“Why do people like the Pies?” repeated 
Green Apple Pie scornfully. “Why, on ac¬ 
count of our crust, of course. Any young 
Tart could have told you that. No one in Des- 
sertville can hope to be very much liked who 
doesn’t wear at least one crust and possibly 
two. You will have to get a crust, Creamie,” 
she said, “if ever you want to amount to any¬ 
thing.” 

“But how shall I do that?” asked Creamie 


A MERRY COMPANY 353 

Rice Pudding, who was feeling weak by this 
time. 

‘‘Get some flour and water and shortening 
and a rolling board and a rolhng pin and make 
yourself one,’’ said Green Apple Pie, “and 
then I will fit it to you myself,” she added, 
feeling sorry for poor, simple little Creamie. 

So Creamie went down town and bought flour 
and shortening and a rolling board and a roll¬ 
ing pin, and she went to the brook for clear 
cold water, and then she made herself a crust 
which Green Apple Pie fitted to her, crimping 
it all around the edge. Creamie Rice Pud¬ 
ding went out for a walk, wearing her crust, 
and feeling that at last she must look very 
charming. 

But she had gone only a few steps before 
she met Charlotte Russe, who exclaimed, 
“Creamie, what, in all Dessertville, have you 
done to yourself? Don’t you know that it is 
no longer considered good foitm to wear those 
thick, heavy crusts? All the best of us are 
wearing soft, fluffy cloaks made of whipped 
cream.” 

When Creamie Rice Pudding heard this, 
she almost dropped right there in the road, 
but she managed to whisper, “Where can I get 
a whipped cream cloak, Charlotte? I have 


354 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

spent almost all I have for this pie crust.” 

‘‘Dear me,” said Charlotte Russe, who had 
very little sympathy and felt herself above the 
other Desserts, “I can’t tell you, for whipped 
Cream is very expensive this year. You 
might be able to find a fairy godmother, my 
dear, who would give you one, but I can’t 
think of any other way out of your trouble.” 

So Creamie Rice Pudding, shedding her 
heavy pie crust coat, set out to find a fairy 
godmother. She travelled a long time with¬ 
out meeting one. Just as she was ready to 
give up in despair, whom should she meet but 
a whole family of funny little brown Raisins 
trudging along the road, hand in hand. As 
soon as they saw Creamie they stopped, and 
the eldest one said, 

“Please, do you know of any one who would 
like to adopt a family of Raisin orphans? 
We are orjohans, and we haven’t any home.” 

Creamie Rice Pudding considered it, but 
she could not think of any one who would be 
likely to want to adopt a family of Raisin 
orphans. She knew that the Ice Creams were 
too much taken up with keeping cold, and the 
Puddings with keeping hot. The Pies were 
too busy designing their crusts, and Charlotte 
Russe would be afraid that those little brown 


A MERRY COMPANY 


355 


Raisins would muss up her whipped cream. 
But the Raisins looked very tired and forlorn 
and Creamie had a very soft heart. She 
finally said, 

‘‘I will adopt you!’’ 

When the Raisins heard this, they swelled 
out with joy to twice their natural size. They 
all trudged together to Creamie Rice Pud¬ 
ding’s house which was shaped like a big bowl 
and had plenty of room inside. As for 
Creamie, in the fun of washing the little 
Raisins, and finding places for them, she for¬ 
got all about her great wish to be more attrac¬ 
tive. It didn’t make a bit of difference to her 
whether she was liked or not. 

But, as a matter of fact, from that time 
Creamie began to be very much loved. How 
could she help it, for the little Raisins cheered 
her and jnade her so attractive that Creamie 
Rice Pudding began, from the day she adopted 
them, to be charming. 


PHOEBE ANN, THE PROUD GIRL 


T his Phoebe Ann was a very proud girl! 

Her nose had always an upward curl. 
She thought herself better than all beside, and 
beat the peacock himself for pride. 

She thought the earth so dirty and brown 
that she never, by any chance, looked down, 
but she held her head so very high that some¬ 
thing happened by-and-by. 

Her neck stretched up, and it grew so long 
that her parents were sure there was some¬ 
thing wrong. It stretched and stretched, and 
they soon began to look with fear at their 
Phoebe Ann. They begged her to stop her up¬ 
ward gaze, but Phoebe kept on in her same 
proud ways, till her neck became so long and 
spare it was more of a neck than her head 
could bear. 

It bent to the ground like a willow tree, and 
brought down the head of this proud Phoefte.' 

Whenever she started a walk to take, the 
boys would snicker, ‘‘Here comes the snake 
And it got so heavy a load to drag on, she 
had to push it along in a wagon; a wagon with 

356 


A MERRY COMPANY 


357 


four wheels, small and red, was used to carry 
poor Phoebe’s head. 

So don’t you hold your head too high, or 
your neck stretch too, by-and-by. 


JOHNNY LOOK-IN-THE-AIR 


S he trudged along to school, it was al- 



ways Johnny’s rule to be looking at the 
sky and the clouds that floated by. But what 
just before him lay, in his way, Johnny never 
thought about. So that everyone cried out, 

‘‘Look at little Johnny there, little Johnny 
Head-in-Air!” 

Eunning just in Johnny’s way, came a little 
dog one day. Johnny’s eyes were still astray 
up on high, in the sky; and he never heard 
them say, 

“Johnny mind, the dog is nigh” 

What happens now! Bump! Dump! 
Down they fell with such a thump, dog and 
Johnny in a lump! They almost broke their 
bones,—so hard they tumbled on the stones. 

Once, with head as high as ever, Johnny 
walked beside the river. J ohnny watched the 
swallows trying which was cleverest at flying. 
Oh, what fun! And Johnny watched the 
round, gold sun going in and coming out; these 
were all he thought about. So he strode on, 
only think, to the river’s very brink, where the 


358 


A MERRY COMPANY 


359 


bank was steep and high, and the waves came 
rolling by, and the fishes in a row stared to see 
him coming so. 

One step more! Oh, sad to tell, headlong 
in j)oor Johnny fell 1 All the fishes in dis¬ 
may wagged their tails and swam away. 
There lay Johnny on his face with his new red 
writing case. 

But, as they were passing by, two strong 
men had heard his cry; and, with sticks, these 
two strong men hooked poor J ohnny out again. 

Oh, you should have seen him shiver when 
they pulled him from the river. He was in a 
sorry plight, dripping wet, and such a fright! 
Wet all over, everywhere, clothes, and legs, 
and face and hair. J ohnny never will forget 
how it felt to be so wet. 

And the fishes, one, two, three, all came 
swimming back to see; up they came a moment 
after to enjoy the fun and laughter. Each 
popped out its little head and, to tease poor 
Johnny, said, 

‘‘Silly little Johnny, look, you have lost 
your writing book.” 

They were right as right could be. His case 
was drifting out to sea. 


THE STORY OF THE INKY BOYS 


A S he had often done before, the woolly- 
headed Black-a-Moor, one nice fine sum¬ 
mer's day went out to see the shops, and walk 
about. And as he found it hot, poor fellow, he 
took with him his green umbrella. 

Then Edward, little noisy wag, ran out and 
laughed, and waved his flag. And William 
came, in jacket trim, and brought his wooden 
hoop with him. And Casper, too, snatched up 
his toys and joined the other naughty boys. 
So one and all set up a roar, and laughed and 
hooted more and more, and started shouting— 
only think, 

‘‘Oh, Blacky, you’re as black as ink!” 

Saint Nicholas lived just close by, so tall he 
almost reached the sky. He had a mighty 
inkstand, too, in which a great goose-feather 
grew. He called out in a mighty tone, 
“Boys, leave the Black-a-Moor alone! For 
if he tried with all his might, he could not turn 
from black to white.” 

But, ah, they did not heed a bit what Saint 
Nicholas said of it. They went on laughing 

3C0 


A MERRY COMPANY 


361 


as before, and hooting at the Black-a-Moor. 

Saint Nicholas then foamed with rage; his 
thoughts would fill another page. He seized 
on Casper, caught up Ned, took William by 
his little head. And they might kick and 
scream and call, but in his ink he dipped them 
all. Into the inkstand, one, two, three, till they 
were black as black could be. Just shut your 
eyes and you can see. 

See, there they are, and there they run. 
The Black-a-Moor enjoys the fun. They have 
been made as black as crows; quite black all 
over, eyes, and nose, and legs, and arms, and 
heads, and toes. Those silly little Inky boys 1 
Because they set up such a roar, and teased a 
harmless Black-a-Moor. 


TWEEDLEDUM AND TWEEDLEDEE 


T EEY were standing under a tree, each with 
an arm round the other’s neck, and Alice 
knew which was which in a moment, because 
one of them had Dum embroidered on his col¬ 
lar, and the other Dee. ‘‘I suppose they’ve 
each got Tweedle round at the back of the col¬ 
lar,” she said to herself. 

They stood so still that she quite forgot they 
were alive, and she was just going around to 
see if the word Tweedle was written at the 
back of each collar, when she was startled by 
a voice coming from the one marked Dum. 
“If you think we’re wax-works,” he said, “you 
ought to pay, you know. Wax-works weren’t 
made to be looked at for nothing. Nohow!” 

“Contrariwise,” added the one marked Dee, 
“if you think we are alive, you ought to 
speak.” 

“I’m sure I’m very sorry,” was all Alice 
could think of to say, for the words of the old 
song kept ringing through her head like the 
ticking of a clock, and she could hardly help 
saying them aloud: 


362 


A MERRY COMPANY 


363 


‘‘Tweedle Diim and Tweedle Dee 
Agreed to have a battle; 

For Tweedledum said Tweedledee 
Had spoiled his nice new rattle. 

Just then flew down a monstrous crow, 
As black as a tar-barrel; 

Which frightened both the heroes so, 
They quite forgot their quarrel.’’ 

‘‘I know what you’re thinking about,” said 
Tweedledum, ‘‘but it isn’t so, nohow.” 

“Contrariwise,” continued Tweedledee, “if 
it was so, it might be; and if it were so it would 
be; but as it isn’t, it ain’t. That’s logic.” 

“I was thinking,” said Alice politely, 
“which is the best way out of this wood; it’s 
getting so dark. Would you tell me, please 

But the fat little men only looked at each 
other and grinned. 

They looked so exactly like a couple of great 
schoolboys that Alice couldn’t help pointing 
her finger at Tweedlediun and saying, “First 
boy!” 

“Nohow!” Tweedledum cried out briskly, 
and shut his mouth again with a snap. 

“Next boy,” said Alice, passing on to 
Tweedledee, though she felt quite certain he 


364 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

would only shout out, ‘‘Contrariwise,’’ and so 
he did. 

“You’ve begun wrong!” cried Tweedledum. 
“The first thing in a visit is to say, ‘How d’ye 
do?’ and shake hands.” And here the two 
brothers gave each other a hug, and then they 
held out the two hands that were free to shake 
hands with her. 

Alice did not like shaking hands with either 
of them first, for fear of hurting the other 
one’s feelings; so, as the best way out of the 
difficulty, she took hold of both hands at once; 
and the next moment they were dancing round 
in a ring. And Alice was not even surprised 
to hear music playing; it seemed to come from 
the tree under which they were dancing, and 
it was done, as well as she could make out, by 
the branches rubbing one across the other, like 
fiddles and fiddle-sticks. 

The other two dancers were fat, and very 
soon out of breath. 

“Four times round is enough for one 
dance,” Tweedledum panted out, and they left 
off dancing as suddenly as they had begun. 
The music stopped at the same moment. 

Then they let go of Alice’s hands, and stood 
looking at her a moment. “I hope you’re not 
much tired?” Alice said at last. 


A MERRY COMPANY 


365 


Nohow, and thank you very much for ask¬ 
ing,’’ said Tweedlediun. 

‘‘So much obliged!” added Tweedledee. 
“Do you like poetry?” 

“Ye-es, pretty well; some poetry,” Alice 
said doubtfully. “Would you tell me which 
road leads out of the woods?” 

“What shall I repeat to her?” said Tweedle¬ 
dee, looking round at Tweedledum with great 
solemn eyes and not noticing Alice’s question. 

“The Walrus and the Carpenter is the long¬ 
est,” Tweedledum replied giving his brother 
an affectionate hug. Tweedledee smiled 
gently and began: 

“The sun was shining on the sea, 

Smiling with all his might; 

He did his very best to make 
The billows smooth and bright— 

And this was odd, because it was 
The middle of the night. 

The moon was shining sulkily. 

Because she thought the sun 
Had got no business to be there 
After the day was done— 

‘It’s very rude of him,’ she said, 

‘To come and spoil the fun!’ 


366 


MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 


The sea was wet as wet could be, 
The sands were dry as dry. 

You could not see a cloud, because 
No cloud was in the sky; 

No birds were flying overhead— 
There were no birds to fly. 

The Walrus and the Carpenter 
Were walking close at hand; 
They wept like anything to see 
Such quantities of sand: 

‘If this were only cleared away,’ 
They said, ‘it would be grand!’ 

‘If seven maids with seven mops 
Swept it for half a year. 

Do you suppose the Walrus said, 
‘That they would get it clear?’ 

‘I doubt it,’ said the Carpenter, 
And shed a bitter tear. 


‘O Oysters, come and walk with us!’ 
The Walrus did beseech. 

‘A pleasant walk, a pleasant talk, 
Along the briny beach; 

We cannot do with more than four. 
To give a hand to each.’ 


A MERRY COMPANY 


367 


The eldest Oyster looked at him, 
But never a word he said; 

The eldest Oyster winked his eye, 
And shook his heavy head— 
Meaning to say he did not choose 
To leave the oyster-bed. 


But four young Oysters hurried up. 

All eager for the treat; 

Their coats were brushed, their faces washed, 
Their shoes were clean and neat— 

And this was odd, because, you know. 

They hadnT any feet. 

Four other Oysters followed them. 

And yet another four; 

And thick and fast they came at last. 

And more, and more, and more— 

All hopping through the frothy waves, 

And scrambling to the shore. 

The Walrus and the Carpenter 
Walked on a mile or so. 

And then they rested on a rock * 

Conveniently low; 

And all the little Oysters stood 
And waited in a row. 


368 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

‘The time has come,’ the Walrus said, 
‘To speak of many things; 

Of shoes—and ships—and sealing wax— 
Of cabbages—and kings— 

And why the sea is boiling hot— 

And whether pigs have wings.’ 


‘But wait a bit,’ the Oysters cried, 
‘Before we have our chat; 

For some of us are out of breath. 
And all of us are fat.’ 

‘No hurry,’ said the Carpenter. 

They thanked him much for that. 

‘A loaf of bread,’ the Walrus said, 

‘Is what we chiefly need; 

Pepper and vinegar besides 
Are very good indeed— 

Now, if you’re ready. Oysters dear, 
We can begin to feed.’ 

‘But not on us!’ the Oysters cried. 
Turning a little blue, 

‘After such kindness, that would be 
A dismal thing to do!’ 

‘The night is flne,’ the Walrus said, 
‘Do you admire the view?’ 


A MERRY COMPANY 


369 


^It was so kind of you to come! 

And you are very nice! ’ 

The Carpenter said nothing but 
‘ Cut us another slice. 

I wish you were not quite so deaf— 
Ve had to ask you twice.’ 

‘It seems a shame,’ the Walrus said, 
‘To play them such a trick. 

After we’ve brought them out so far, 
And made them trot so quick!’ 

The Carpenter said nothing but, 
‘The butter’s spread too thick!’ 

‘I weep for you,’ the Walrus said, 

‘I deeply sympathize,’ 

With sobs and tears he sorted out 
Those of the largest size. 

Holding his pocket handkerchief 
Before his streaming eyes. 


‘0 Oysters,’ said the Carpenter, 
‘You’ve had a pleasant run! 

Shall we be trotting home again?’ 
But answer there was none— 

And this was scarcely odd, because 
They’d eaten every one.” 


370 MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 

‘‘I like the Walrus best,” said Alice, ‘‘be¬ 
cause he was a little sorry for the poor Oy¬ 
sters.” 

“He ate more than the Carpenter, though,” 
said Tweedledee. “You see he held his hand¬ 
kerchief in front so that the Carpenter 
couldn’t see how many he took; contrariwise.” 

“That was mean!” Alice said indignantly. 
“Then I like the Carpenter best—^if he didn’t 
eat as many as the Walrus. ” 

“But he ate as many as he could get,” said 
Tweedledum. 

That was a puzzler. After a pause, Alice 
began, “Well! They were both unpleasant 
characters—” she checked herself, for Tweed¬ 
ledum suddenly seized her by her wrist, 

“Do you see that?” he said in a voice chok¬ 
ing with passion, and his eyes grew large and 
yellow all in a moment as he pointed with a 
trembling finger at a small white thing lying 
under a tree. 

“It’s only a rattle,” Alice said, after a care¬ 
ful examination of the little white thing. 
“Not a rattle-snake, you know,” she added, 
thinking that he might be frightened, “only 
an old rattle—quite old and broken.” 

“I knew it was!” cried Tweedledum, begin¬ 
ning to stamp about wildly and tear his hair. 


A MERRY COMPANY 


371 


‘‘It’s spoiled of course!” Here he looked at 
Tweedledee, who immediately sat down on the 
ground, and tried to hide himself under an 
umbrella. 

Alice laid her hand upon his arm, and said 
in a soothing tone, “You needn’t be so angry 
about an old rattle.” 

“But it isn’t old!” Tweedledum cried in a 
greater fury than ever, “It’s new, I tell you— 
I bought it yesterday—^my nice, new Rattle !” 
and his voice rose to a perfect scream. 

All this time Tweedledee was trying to fold 
up the umbrella he had just raised with him¬ 
self in it; which was an extraordinary thing 
to do and quite took Alice’s attention from his 
angry brother. But he couldn’t succeed, and 
it ended in his rolling over, bundled up in the 
umbrella, with only his head out. And there 
he lay opening and shutting his mouth and his 
large eyes—“looking more like a fish than any¬ 
thing else,” Alice thought. 

“Of course you agree to have a battle,” 
Tweedledum said in a calmer tone. 

“I suppose so,” the other sulkily agreed as 
he crawled out from under his umbrella, “only 
she must help us to dress up, you know.” 

So the two brothers went off hand in hand 
through the wood, and returned in a minute 


372 


MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 


with their arms full of things—bolsters, 
blankets, hearth-rugs, table-cloths, dish-cov¬ 
ers, and coal-scuttles. ‘‘I hope you are a good 
hand at pinning and tying strings?’’ Tweedle¬ 
dum remarked, ^‘for everyone of these things 
has got to go on, somehow or other.” 

Alice had never seen such a fuss made about 
anything in her life—the way those two 
bustled about—and the quantity of things they 
put on—and the trouble she had in tying 
strings and fastening buttons. ‘ ‘ Really, they ’ll 
be more like bundles of old clothes than any¬ 
thing else,” she said to herself, as she arranged 
a bolster round the neck of Tweedledee, 
^‘To keep my head from being cut off,” as 
he said. 

‘‘You know,” he added gravely, “it’s one 
of the most serious things that can possibly 
happen to one in battle—^to get one’s head cut 
off.” 

Alice laughed, but she managed to turn it 
into a cough, for fear of hurting his feelings. 

“Do I look pale?” asked Tweedledum com¬ 
ing up to have his helmet tied on. He called it 
a helmet, but it looked very much more like a 
sauce pan. 

“Well, yes, a little,” said Alice gently. 

“I’m very brave usually,” he went on in a 


A MERRY COMPANY 


373 


low voice, ‘‘only that today I happen to have 
a headache.’’ 

“And I’ve got a toothache,” said Tweedle- 
dee, who had overheard the conversation. 
“I’m far worse than you.” 

“Then you’d better not fight today,” said 
Alice, thinking it a good opportunity to make 
peace. 

“We must have a fight, but I don’t care 
about going on long,” said Tweedledum. 
“What’s the time now?” 

Tweedledee looked at his watch and said, 
“Half-past four.” 

“Let’s fight till six and then have dinner,” 
said Tweedledum. 

“Very well,” the other said, rather sadly, 
“and she can watch us—only you’d better not 
come very close,” he added, “I generally hit 
everything within sight—when I get really 
excited.” 

“And I hit everjdhing within reach,” cried 
Tweedlediun, “whether I can see it or not.” 

Alice laughed. “Then you hit the trees 
pretty often I should think,” she said. 

Tweedledum looked round him with a satis¬ 
fied smile. “I don’t suppose,” he said, 
“there’ll be a tree left standing for ever so far 
around by the time we have finished!” 


374 


MERRY TALES FOR CHILDREN 


‘‘And all about a rattle!” said Alice, still 
hoping to make them even a little ashamed of 
fighting over such a trifie. 

“I shouldn’t have minded it so much,” said 
Tweedledum, “if it hadn’t been my new one.” 

“I wish the monstrous crow would come,” 
thought Alice. 

“There’s only one sword, you know,” 
Tweedledum said to his brother, “but you can 
keep the umbrella—it’s quite as sharp. Only 
we must begin quickly. It’s getting as dark 
as it can.” 

“And darker,” said Tweedledee. 

It was getting dark so suddenly that Alice 
thought there must be a thunder storm com¬ 
ing on. “What a thick, black cloud that is!” 
she said. “And how fast it comes! Why, I 
do believe that it’s got wings!” 

“It’s the crow!” said Tweedledum in a 
shrill voice of alarm. And the two brothers 
took to their heels and were out of sight in a 
moment. 


The End. 





















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